By : Robert Tomi Mano *
The OPM is known as a cruel criminal organization, as it was known on 1 December 2018 which claimed to be West Papua’s independence day. The event was accompanied by a stone burning agenda with the local community. Lantara has PT Istaka Karya workers who photographed the series of events. The Separatist Criminal Group then went to their base camp. Separatist groups arrived at around 3:00 p.m. With various sharp weapons and firearms, dozens of members of the group forced 25 PT Istaka Karya workers out of the base camp.
Next, they were led to Karunggame River in a bound hand condition, “he added. Until Sunday the workers are not released. Around 07.00 WIT they were taken to the top of Kabo Hill. On the way from Karunggame River to Bukit Kabo, dozens of PT Istaka Karya workers were asked to walk squat. That’s when OPM opened fire on them. Some workers were shot dead on the spot, some were pretending to die lying on the ground. A total of eleven PT Istaka Karya workers pretended to be lifeless. However, five of them were caught when they wanted to escape. They were immediately executed using sharp weapons. OPM also wanted to show its existence by attacking members of the Pirime sector police on November 27, 2012. He managed to kill 3 ruthless firearms (senpi), namely 2 long barrel guns and a revolver gun.
A few days later, a group of OPM members also attacked the Papua Regional Police Chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian, who at that time wanted to review the Pirime Sub-District Police. In the shooting contact, one follower of an OPM member named Wanimbo was shot dead. OPM’s actions are indeed crimes against humanity and the OPM is not only a false hope seller organization that is also a criminal and terror group that must be immediately crushed by the state by using the TNI as its main player, because the TNI is equipped with guerrilla and anti-guerrilla capabilities and other war capabilities.
In addition, the recognition or testimony of the citizens who were held by OPM should be a “wake up call” for organizations and NGOs that have still been impressed “defending the OPM” that the OPM is actually not worth defending. On the other hand West Papua’s independence is also supported by a small country called Vanuatau in the Pacific Ocean, which then suddenly became a hot topic of conversation in Indonesia.
The state of Vanuatau also boldly ignored the criticism of the Indonesian government and continued to support West Papua’s independence. As a result, the name Vanuatu has increasingly become a sharp spotlight. Moreover, with the incessant efforts by Papuan separatist organizations in the country and abroad, the “courage” of the island region is increasingly becoming – to Indonesia.
`Vanuatu’s courage arose when it successfully mobilized support from a number of other pacific countries. The country is collaborating with the Solomon Islands to form the Pacific Islands of West Papua (PIWP), to capture support from the Pacific countries. Previously Vanuatu was a single fighter in supporting West Papua’s independence, now behind them there are seven new members such as the Solomon Islands, Nuru, Marshall Islands, Palau, Tuvalu, Kiribati and Tonga.
Not only initiating a group to support West Papua’s independence, the Vanuatu government also approved his country’s efforts to attend the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva. Vanuatu’s strategy is to try to advocate the issue of Papua outside the Pacific region when a coalition between Pacific countries has been formed. In fact, the Prime Minister (PM) of Vanuatu, Charlot Salwai has appointed a special envoy, namely their Ambassador in the European Union, Roy Micky Joy. This figure will help lobby the jurisdiction of the European Union, the African Union and the Caribbean about Papua in the international arena.
The Government of Vanuatau considers the issue of Papua to have reached a wider level of problems. In a meeting entitled Pacific Island Forum (PIF), the issue of Papua was included in 14 issues being discussed. You could say, from what had previously been a bilateral discussion on Vanuatu, it has risen to the forum level and has become a regional issue. As is known, PM Salwai held bilateral meetings with many countries and raised the issue of Papua in the PIF forum.
Besides that Vanuatu also has historical reasons that do not want the Papuan people to disappear from their own land. The past history of Vanuatu has also become a background for them to support Papuan independence. In the past, Vanuatu, which is still called the New Hebrides, was afraid of losing their land and identity in their own territory. It can be concluded, surviving extinction was the reason for Vanuatu to stand behind the Free Papua movement.
In line with organizations supporting West Papua independence, the violent narrative of Human Rights (HAM) was also appointed by Vanuatu to reap widespread international support. Countries in the Pacific region are also considered not to respect the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia because they dare to infiltrate activists and leaders of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua into the UN Human Rights Council. Indonesia considers that this is considered as West Papua’s diplomatic effort to board Vanuatu as a ‘vehicle’ to convey its aspirations in international forums.
After all, the political maneuver that Vanuatu had intensified to corner the NKRI related to West Papua, could not be underestimated. Because if this is allowed to go on without any settlement, this will certainly be dangerous for Indonesia in the future. Of course, Indonesia should not only give criticism, but also high-level lobbying to the UN council.
*) Student of International Relation at University of Papua