Papuans were not allowed by the government to identify themselves as Papuans or Melanesians by: MUTOPAI WEST PAPUA

Papuans were not allowed by the government to identify themselves as Papuans or Melanesians : by: MUTOPAI WEST PAPUA
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Almost any cultural expression by the Papuans has for many years been considered by the Indonesian government to be a manifestation of the separatist movement. Papuans who sang in their local language could be beaten, tortured, detained or even killed by the Indonesian security forces in the name of eradicating separatism. Papuan traditional cultures were also treated as uncivilised and primitive by many Indonesians. The government sought to make Papuans feel ashamed of their traditional ways and to undermine these in the name of modernisation and development – or, more accurately, ‘Indonesianisation’. Papuans were not allowed by the government to identify themselves as Papuans or Melanesians: instead, the government taught the Papuans to call themselves ‘Indonesians from Irian Jaya province’. A significant example of the undermining of Papuan culture is the way that Papuans have been separated from their land. In former days, the Papuans were the owners of the forest under customary adat (traditional law). The forest had both an economic and a religious meaning for the Papuans. It was considered a source of food, a shelter in time of tribal war, and a place to communicate with ancestral spirits. To  the Papuans, the meaning of the forest is embodied in their saying: ‘the forest is our mother’. However, under Indonesian rule, Papuans were no longer considered as the owners of ancestral lands. Their lands were
plundered on the pretext of national development, and their forests expropriated and exploited. Companies with their head offices in Jakarta have divided the forests in West Papua among themselves. Government authorities and business people, who are mostly nonPapuans, have become the putative owners of the forests and land (at least for as long as it takes them to extract its resources). The Papuans, the true owners of the land, have become mere guardians of the forests, which are now considered to belong to other people.20 Once a private company has begun its forestry exploitation activity, the Papuans are not allowed to enter into the claimed forest, not even to collect firewood. The interests of most of these private companies are protected and safeguarded by the Indonesian security forces. When the Papuans demand their rights to ownership of the forest, they are accused of being separatists, the label that gives justification to the security forces to use violence against them.21 Many abuses have arisen from a military and police presence aimed at protecting mining firms, forest concessions and timber estates exploiting natural resources. In addition, the illegal logging business is thriving in West Papua. Often this takes place with the protection – and even the direct involvement – of the security forces. Indeed, the military’s  extensive business interests are an important factor behind their presence in West Papua. The Papuans are powerless in the face of this collaboration between the government, the military,  and the private companies who grab their land. As recognised by the Papuans of the Amungme tribe, ‘by using the label of separatist, and gun-pointing against us, the government, private companies and the Indonesians easily rob our land without consulting us.’

By: MUTOPAI WEST PAPUA