By: Davina Gunawan)*
The National Committee of West Papua (NPC) has mandated the entire population of Western Papua from Raja Ampat to Almasuh to take a vacation on 15 August 2024 to commemorate the historic moment, the New York Agreement on August 15, 1962. As information, the New York Treaty was a treaty initiated by the United States in 1962 for the transfer of power over West Papua from the Netherlands to Indonesia through the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority. (UNTEA).
The KNPB also invited the entire population of West Papua and non-Papua to participate in the peaceful demonstration to be held on 15 August 2024. The head of the Central KNPB, Warpo Sampai Wetipo said that his party would commemorate August as a month of racism through demonstrations. The invitation to leave on August 15, 2024 is addressed to 32 elements of the West Papua community, including the Executive, Legislative, Judiciary of Papua, the entire Civil State Officer (PNS), the Leader and Chairman of the Papua Land KNPB, the Papua People’s Assembly, and others.
In addition, the KNPB also invited Pangdam Cenderawasih along with his ranks, the Papua Kapolda along with the ranks of the Chief of the Church, the Pastor, and the Priest of the Papuan Land Mosque, the lawyers, as well as the Chairman of the Papua Aboriginal Council. A number of leaders of the Papua Freedom Organization (OPM) were also invited, including West Melanesia, the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, the West Papua National Parliament, and a number of other civil movement organizations.
The demonstration will take place on the Abepura Highway to Sentani. According to him, to this day the Papua community is a people colonized by the capitalist state system. From there, Warpo Sampai Wetipo calls on the entire West Papua community to take part in a demonstration to uphold the values of justice, truth, honesty, and true humanity.
Seeing the phenomenon, Papuan religious figure, Pastor Yones Wenda said that the people of Papua can welcome the celebration of the 79th Independence of the Republic of Indonesia (RI) with pleasure. Yones Wenda also called on the entire element of the community to maintain security and order in welcoming the HUT RI without following unclear actions and only provoking social conflict. According to him, the independence of this nation came thanks to the struggle of the heroes of the past, then the people should be able to keep the celebration of the Independence of RI with love for the country of Indonesia.
It also affirms that Papua is the framework of the United States of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI), so it is hoped that the people of Papua will be more sensible in receiving information related to Papua independence and more cautious about calling or calling for demonstrations on 15 August 2024, because the action is only aimed at splitting the nation and ruining the moment of the 79th Independence celebration of RI.
In the action, the KNPB affirmed several things related to the right to the fate of the Papua people who feel oppressed and betrayed by Indonesia. KNPB believes that the indigenous communities of West Papua have never and will never accept NKRI, the NKRI through its operations have killed most of the native population of Western Papua, the political actors imposed through Special Autonomy (Otsus) jilid II on the West Papua Land are people’s oppressor actors, and demands that PT Freeport Indonesia be immediately closed including all foreign investors operating on the Papua Land.
On the other hand, the Government of Papua has invited the mass media in the Cenderawasih Land to participate in the celebrating of the 79th Independence HUT of RI in full freedom. Assistant Secretary of Papua Economic Affairs and People’s Welfare, Setyo Wahyudi said that by the day of the summit HUT RI is expected to contribute the press to deliver the vibrant message related to independence that took place in Papua and not to report the actions or provocations carried out to ruin the moment of independence.
On the occasion, Setyo Wahyudi said that the press should be able to deliver cool news as well as filter reports that could potentially trigger conflict. The mass media must be involved inining peace in the Cenderawasih region through the message broadcast to the people, especially the people of Papua. The mass media must be a container or instrument that enlightens the nation and is not affected by the provocative issues that are deliberately created by the Oknum to fix the atmosphere in Papua.
The demonstrations carried out by the KNPB on August 15, 2024 could potentially cause a lot of damage to all parties, especially to the Cinderella Guard Earth itself. Therefore, the people should be able to unite and solidly support the efforts of the security forces in enforcing law and peace in Papua by refusing to call or call for demonstrations embroiled in words of peaceful action. Don’t let the people of Papua become the victims of the provocation of the KNPB that wants to split Papua from the NKRI.
)* The author is the Economic Observer of the Nusa Nation Institute.
