Jakarta. Calls are mounting for President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to start implementing a proposed roadmap for reconciliation in Papua, with human rights activists claiming that he has failed to calm tensions in the restive province in the two years since he took office.
The Jokowi administration has been focusing on infrastructure development projects to boost the economy in Papua, where a decades-old insurgency has led to several cases of alleged human rights abuses.
Activists say the president’s developmental approach could barely address the root causes of the tensions, with the insurgency apparently having shown no signs of abating.
They have repeatedly urged the government to start dialog in an attempt to resolve the situation, beside forging ahead with social and economic development.
The move includes implementation of the “Papua Roadmap” published by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) in early 2009, with a series of inclusive dialogs in the province.
These dialogs should involve native Papuans, Indonesians from other regions, government officials and insurgents.
“The process can hopefully end with reconciliation,” Papua Peaceful Network coordinator Neles Tebay told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday (13/10). “We hope the dialogs can dig deeper into the root causes of the conflict in the province.”
LIPI based the roadmap on research conducted over four years, starting in 2004, during which researchers identified several main causes of conflict in the province.
These include failed development in education, health and the economy, discrimination and marginalization of native Papuans, state violence resulting in human rights abuses, as well as various different interpretations of the integration of the province into Indonesia in 1969.
“We should keep pushing for dialog if the aim is to achieve peace,” Setara Institute deputy head Bonar Tigor Naipospos said. “It doesn’t matter if the process fails. Failure doesn’t mean that we should stop trying.”
The Free Papua Organization (OPM) has frequently called for international support from the Melanesian community in the Pacific.
Rallies in support of the province’s independence in parts of Indonesia have seen dozens of Papuans repressed by authorities in recent months.
“The chain of violence can only be broken through dialog,” human rights advocate Benny Soesetyo said. “We still believe the president is a humanitarian who has the willingness to listen to the people through dialog.”
Source : Jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com