Just days after Indonesians celebrated the 74th anniversary of their hard-fought independence from Dutch colonial rule, a serious challenge arose to the ideal of a united, harmonious and peaceful nation.
Reacting to racist insults and long-running discrimination against Papuan students in Surabaya and other cities in Java and Sulawesi, rioters took to the streets in Manokwari, Jayapura and several district centers across Papua and West Papua.
Inevitably, this was followed by a call for a referendum on Papua’s future, this time growing more strident and more forceful as the unrest continued to spread despite an Internet blackout across the region.
Does this mean Indonesia is starting to fray at the edges? Certainly, it is far from the feared Balkanization that many people feared would come about following the fall of president Suharto and before a reformist government embarked on decentralization, as fraught as that has been.
Overall, moves towards separation and defection during the past seven decades of self-rule have been few and far between for an ethnically-diverse country which essentially became one under Dutch colonial rule.
The Aceh and Permesta rebellions come to mind, as well as the long-running Darul Islam insurgency which sought to transform Indonesia into a syariah state. Easily the biggest blow was the loss of East Timor, following a referendum which president B.J. Habibie approved in the first blush of post-Suharto reforms.
Through it all, Indonesians have persevered. Again and again the mantra of the Pancasila state ideology — unity and diversity, nationhood and tolerance – has been pushed by the government, if not with quite the same enthusiasm as before. Our constitution guarantees the rights of all citizens to equality, justice and the pursuit of a good life.
Alas, in a democracy, the majority voice tends to win out and the minorities suffer the consequences. In some cases, the ethnic divide – most notably in Papua – leaves the Jakarta administration either unwilling or helpless to find a solution.
We have been experimenting with democracy now for more than two decades, with very mixed results and with some analysts arguing we are in retreat. There have been divisive conflicts apart from Papua — rural vs urban, landowner vs landless, progressive Islam vs conservative Islam, all a threat to the fabric of society.
We have laws to protect our citizens against injustice and discrimination. Yet issues remain, at times magnified by politicians resorting to identity politics in their ambition to gain power. The government, most unfortunately, cannot always be counted on to resolve problems or do the right thing.
When the Papuan protests exploded, one official lamented: “We don’t know what to do about Papua.” Learning a measure of respect would be a good place to start. Papuans are, after all, Indonesians. More importantly, the government should remember the lessons of East Timor. Surely, we have learnt by now that simply pumping money into a place is not the answer to anything.
It’s not just Papua. The government has also failed to protect other minorities too. Churches still face difficulties being built for arbitrary reasons. Women in some areas are still not free to open bank accounts without a father, husband or son as guarantor.
So, how to change reactionary, prejudiced and parochial mindsets? We could start encouraging people to fight back and not be bullied. And there is always the next generation, many of whom are keenly aware of the need to address basic problems of poverty, lack of educational access and health facilities, attaining economic self-sufficiency.
In their own quiet way, they are out there, volunteering in remote and rural areas, in city slums, and yes, a few of them are even in the troubled provinces of Papua and West Papua, doing what they believe is worth saving: a peaceful and progressive Indonesia.
