by: Anjani Natula*
Again, utterances of hatred and racism become the musiu that burn peace in Papua. As a result of “racist” remarks towards a number of Papuan students in the Papuan student dormitory on Jalan Kalasan, East Java by unscrupulous mass organizations who were demonstrating in front of the Papuan student dormitory, the results of this had resulted in anarchist mass actions in Manokwari and Sorong, West Papua on August 19, 2019, and spread to Fakfak and Timika the next two days, as if to illustrate to the international world that there had been a dehumanization in Papua, especially on the 19th August 2019 to be commemorated as a day of dehumanization by the international community. The “bandwagon effect” of this propaganda is likely to succeed as desired riot actors, who said the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) already has the data on who the mastermind and riot actors are in West Papua, in other words BIN was not cheated in this Papua case.
It seems that the words of civil society organizations demonstrating the “headquarters” of Papuan students in Surabaya do not know the dangers of using racist words and spreading hate speech. However, racism and bigotry are not praiseworthy because bad behavior can injure the feelings and dignity of a person or group, but also a serious violation of the law.
In the perspective of criminal law, expressions of hatred can be categorized as violations of the provisions of Article 156 of the Criminal Code, namely acts that are deemed to incite hatred and hostility. Racialism is also not serious. The act, according to the provisions of Law No. 40 of 2008 concerning the Elimination of Racial and Ethnic Discrimination, especially in Article 116, could be subject to a 5-year prison sentence. Besides that, the perpetrators of racialism and unscrupulous Papuan students suspected of tearing and throwing the Red and White flag into the waterways were not aware that in social media and revolution 4.0, the magnitude and momentum associated with these problems could have a double effect.
It seems that a complete law enforcement process both for racist actors and unscrupulous Papuan students suspected of tearing and throwing the Red and White flag into the water drainage should be carried out as a form of shock therapy, as well as showing the neutrality of the state in dealing with this problem. The same legal process must also be carried out against perpetrators of anarchistic actions in Sorong, Manokwari, Fakfak, and Timika.
In addition, the Papua problem requires comprehensive treatment and cannot be solved instantly. For this reason, the most important thing now is an understanding of the Papuan people, both socially, culturally and politically. Resolving conflict in Papua not only involves elements of the government, but also the entire Indonesian community.
Papuan society is a part and Indonesian society that must be treated as fellow children of the nation. As citizens who must be respected, who have civil and political rights and become part of the auspices of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia.
Many people believe that so far the relationship between the Papuan people and the central government and state apparatus is arguably bad. In addition, government policies do not create or implement the hopes of the Papuan people for justice and economic equality for the people of remote Papua.
The Papua incident reminded the importance of building respect for diversity which is not yet realized by various parties. Besides, the most important thing when respecting nationality is its practice and can show respect and not be racist towards fellow nation’s children.
It must be admitted that there are problems of security disturbances in Papua and West Papua with the presence of TPN / OPM or now known as the “West Papua Army” which so far has not been able to be paralyzed by military force and arrested by its main figures by the security forces and intelligence apparatus.
Even though there are security-related problems, resolving the Papua problem does not necessarily be resolved by adding the TNI or Polri or resolving the Papua problem by prioritizing security aspects, because it will never be finished and only adds to revenge in the future.
Resolving Papua must go through anthropological and sociological channels and other civilian approaches, such as the central and regional governments also need to be more serious in resolving issues related to subsurface Papua. The issue of inequality, allegations of human rights violations, and other issues that have long been developing need to be examined more and find an immediate solution.
Giay (2007) and Kirsch (2010) mention, independence for OPM is the recognition of the state of the Papuan people as human beings which is manifested in social justice, peace, and the desire for dialogue. That is, the term independence cannot be equated with the concept of politics to separate itself from the state, in this case Indonesia. In fact, a number of Papuan elites known as leaders of the Free Papua Organization (OPM) that I interviewed said that actually independence for OAP could not be realized if the central government and Papua, consistently carried out the mandate of Law No. 21/2001 on Papua’s Special Autonomy.
In addition, to solve the problem of Papua, stop the negative stigmatization of the people of Papua, because the stigmatization continues which ultimately moves the people of Papua to take the fight. Accusing any protest against injustice that befell indigenous Papuans (OAP) by stigmatizing that they are pro-separatists, committing treason, or anti-Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) is a big blunder, as discovered by Webb-Gannon (2014), such as Most political elites in Jakarta and people outside Papua said that the realization of Papuan people’s independence could only occur if they were independent and separatist.
Therefore, if there really is a “grand design and political will” to end violence in Papua, the stigmatization of OAP is immediately ended, including expressions of hatred and racism against them, because if not then we are just waiting for the time of Papua’s release from Indonesia.
*) Observer of political and security issues.
