The Black Lives Matter slogan set forth in public protests in the United States due to the sentiment about the murder of George Floyd began to appear in Indonesia. It develops with a different message, but also have a basis, namely Papuan Lives Matter. We reject all forms of racism that occur anywhere in the world, both in the United States and in Indonesia. Racialism is a problem not only for the people of Papua, but also the ethnic Chinese community. We must go beyond such racialism, and see that all the children of Indonesia have not been able to appreciate one another. Those from Eastern Indonesia looked down on their Western relatives. Even those people who were born and raised in a foreign land, but behave arbitrarily towards migrants.
The racism that we reject created protests on the road. But do not forget that Armed Criminal Groups also threaten the Indonesian community. Apart from the security forces, civil society also became victims as was the case in Nduga. On 1-2 December 2018, 31 civilians were victims of the shooting of an Armed Criminal Group (KKB) in Yigi District, Nduga Regency. Where are the voices of human rights activist groups? Is it because the deceased are Indonesians, so their deaths are not worthy of discussion, especially since racism itself is now continuing to be our common reflection. What does Benny Wenda say that deserve international recognition? Is it because he claimed to be a human rights and independence fighter for the people of Papua?
The Papua Regional Police stated that in 2019 there were 23 shooting cases carried out by the KKB. The shooting killed 20 victims, including from the TNI or Polri and civil society. The 23 cases occurred in Puncak Jaya, Jayawijaya, Mimikia and Paniai, which was led by Egianus Kogoya. In 2018, the KKB shootings occurred in 26 cases that resulted in the death of 29 people, 22 from civil societies and 7 from security forces. This year there were 13 civilians and 7 TNI-Polri members injured. This violence occurred in Puncak Jaya, Mimika, Lanny Jaya, Jayawijaya, Nduga Paniai, Nabire, Mamberamo Raya and Mamberamo Tengah.
If we go back a few years, between 2014 to 2018, there were 15 Indonesian civilians and 14 officers who became victims of KKB’s attacks. In 2017, an armed conflict killed three Indonesian security forces and two from armed groups. In 2018, four civilian victims and three Indonesian officers also became victims. The data that was collected in November do not include the number of civilian casualties in Nduga in December of that year. Out of the eight regions in Papua that were the hotspots of the conflict, Nduga was the third hottest region between 2014-2018. Puncak Jaya became the region with the most important point of the conflict. There were seven armed conflicts in Puncak Jaya and four in Nduga within four years.
Of course, we cannot turn a blind eye to the movements of armed criminal groups that disturb security in Papua. Racialism is an important conflict, but the shootings against civil society are part of the conflict and must not be ignored, especially when it befalls civil society or the TNI-Polri apparatus. According to data presented by the Papua Regional Police, the spokesperson of the West Papua National Liberation Army-Free Papua Organization (TPNPB-OPM) Sebby Sambom stated that the data about the shootings was discriminatory. For him there are many times more victims than the people of Papua itself, who were dead, injured, or tortured. However, those of us who build activism in the path of human rights, human lives, or from any other group, do not need to be differentiated.
Regarding Beny Wenda, the champion of liberation of West Papua abroad, we must be critical in perceiving all the claims he provides. He repeatedly said that there had been a genocide and it was Indonesia’s hidden agenda to get rid of ethnic Papuans. Based on this claim, it can be seen that the fundamentalism of the liberation movement of the people of Papua is very strong that it ignites emotions to gain public support. Papua is still underdeveloped, and the development that is offered is indeed exploitative, both for nature and its people. This must be avoided and criticized, but that does not mean that we also do not check the mistakes made by West Papuan Propagandists who now live comfortably in England.
The perspective of Papuans’ genocide is supported by groups of academics abroad, especially through the books and journals they have written. These people include Jim Elmslie, Camellia Webb-Gannon, Peter King, and John Wing from the University of Sydney Australia, as well as academics from Yale Law School, Elizabeth Brundige. They have made it their conclusions to various books and journals from 2000 to 2013. The Papua Insecurity (2015), written by Bobby Anderson, reveals that the biggest victims of security problems in Papua may not fall from vertical conflicts involving state security forces as always stated by Benny Wenda with his organization called the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP).
A 2009 study (published in 2010) on the causes of casualties was also carried out by the Conflict Study in Indonesia (ViCIS) in collaboration with the World Bank and Bappenas (National Planning and Development Agency). In this study, ViCIS analyzes news files about violence in every province and district in Indonesia, including in Papua and West Papua. The results of their research on cases of violence victims that occurred in Papua and West Papua during 2004-2008 recorded around 6,552 violence incidents, which resulted in around 596 people died, 6,148 injured, and around 1,023 property damaged. The number of rape cases in four years was around 942 people. Vertical violence involving state officials and civil society, especially with victims, is relatively low.
To some extent, of course, these facts could be confronted with the arguments of the academics who accuse the dominance of state violence which should be suspected as genocide. ViCIS divides cases of violence in Papua into eight categories. They are violence due to vigilantism (justice of the people), crime and response to criminal acts, domestic violence, ethnic or inter-ethnic violence, political violence, violence due to resources or property, administrative violence (such as corruption and expansion of territory), and other violence. Based on the categories above, victims of violence due to vigilantism are quite high, with a total percentage of 31%, including 17% crime, 13% domestic violence, and 10% ethnic and identity conflict.
For general justice, this category includes violent responses to perceived moral violations, such as sexual infidelity, alcohol use, debt factor, or witchcraft. Victims due to land disputes, industrial relations, labor relations, and administrative cases related to the problem of corruption and regional registration is about 5%. This weak claim of genocide was only made by pro-independence groups and their overseas supporters. The goal may also be to attract international attention to the problem of Papua in Indonesia. In contrast, the issue of genocide is relatively never a real debate in Indonesia because, based on the facts, the victims of genocide cannot be found in significant numbers.
In essence, racism itself is a problem and we are all finally take to the streets. We need to see the big picture that there is provocation from the Armed Criminal Group which killed civil societies in Papua. We also need to be critical when there are claims of genocide committed to the people of Papua by the state. How could genocide occur, while the violence that ended in murder mostly occurred not because of horizontal conflict, but vertical. In a vertical context, killings in Papua also involve the Armed Criminal Groups. How could this obvious killings was not the main focus in the discussion held by the classy BEM such as UI? We reject violence and racism. However, in the context of Papua, and in any context, do not act divisively.
