Author : Gazali
Papua is one of the provinces in Indonesia’s sovereign territory which has an area of around 421,981 square kilometers with a population of only around 2.3 million. More than 71% of Papua is a stretch of tropical rainforest that is difficult to penetrate, because it consists of steep valleys and high mountains, and some of the mountains are covered by snow. The border between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea is marked by 141 lines of East Longitude that cut across the island of Papua from north to south.
Like most of the other islands in the South Pacific, Papuans come from mainland Asia who migrate by boat. The migration began 30,000 to 50,000 years ago, and resulted in them being outside of modern Indonesian civilization, because they were impossible to sail to other islands that were farther away.
Papua is one of Indonesia’s riches. In Papua, great human beings were created who were mostly proficient in sports, in fact there was the term Black Pearl for footballers from the region. In addition, Papua stores a large amount of natural wealth, especially from the mining sector.
Seeing the enormous potential contained in the land of Papua, of course all parties tried to seize it from Indonesia. This was done by raising negative issues that easily sparked anger and triggered the separation of Papua from Indonesia. However, whatever his efforts, Papua is still one of the nations in Indonesia. Indonesia and Papua are a unity that has been created since Indonesia’s independence. Without Papua, Indonesia would not be complete.