Causes of Disunity
Feb 6th, 2009, in News, by Patung
Another East Timor in Papua, lack of development in the province, and racism by other Indonesians towards Papuans.
East Timor Analogy
In January of 2009 an association of Christian churches in Papua, the Persekutuan Gereja-Gereja Baptis (PGBP), sent a letter to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono complaining about the selection procedure for new employees (CPNS) of the Department of Religion (Depag) in areas such as Keerom, Tolikara, Sarmi, Jayapura and Pegunungan Bintang.
The PGBP appears to believe that Depag takes a disproportionate number of new civil servants who are not native Papuans and not Christian. A spokesman for PGBP said
The Papuan Baptist Church asks that Depag be very careful in maintaining good inter-religious relations because the issue of religion is highly sensitive in Papua.
He believed that there had been some deliberate manipulation of the final intake for new public servants that disadvantaged native Papuans, and that this was in violation of the 2001 Special Papuan Autonomy Act which specified that native people should receive preference in hiring decisions.
The spokesman added that the Department of Religion should not repeat the mistakes it had made in East Timor from 1976-99, which had alienated native East Timorese religious leaders, and helped cause that province to break-away from Indonesia, or else something similar might occur in Papua. antara
Aceh & PNG Analogies
Late in 2008 Frederika Korayn from a Papuan womens’ group asked a seminar in Jakarta
The government is willing to have dialogue with the people of Aceh, why not in Papua?
She went on to complain that since integration with Indonesia conditions had not improved much, with still 80% of Papuan women being in absolute poverty, largely un-educated and with poor health.
The Autonomy Act had been implemented only in limited cases and was largely of no value, and she said that population growth in the province was worryingly slow, that since 1970 the population had only grown by 1.5%, whereas in neighbouring Papua New Guinea growth had been at 10%.
The ‘Other’
At the same seminar Yenny Rosa Damayanti of the Association of Indonesian Legal and Human Rights Aid (PBHI), a non-Papuan, said that Indonesians often regarded Papuans as “the other(s)” because of their different skin complexion and race.
Because of the skin colour and hair we regard them as “the other”, not as brothers.
People needed to think about what constituted an Indonesian and whether the definition included Papuans, she said: tempo
Is it just Malay people? Is it just Muslims?
258 Comments on “Causes of Disunity”
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Cukurungan says:
It seems to me, that separating from Indonesia, if this can be done peacefully, will offer the brigthest future for Papuan people. They have a very rich land. The papuans have shown enough loyalty by sticking to the corrupt and incapable central politics in Jakarta. They rightly pointed out that the old Republic has brought little progress to Papua. I would’t blame them if they now want to try it on their own.
Have you visited Papua Nugini? Have you visited Port Moresby and compare it with Jayapura a city under the wisdom of the brownman?
If you never vesited here nice reference:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/22/population.davidfickling
They are same people as our brother in IrianFriend, the brownman decision mostly guided with the wisdom and the benefit for all and not like the whiteman who always think for themself.
As we spoke you can see by yourself Zimbabwe , Rwanda and Congo condition, most of those countries previously under the white rule but when the white could not take benefit anymore on those countries the white just abondoned them and let them slaugtering each other like animal. Do you want us doing that for our brother papuanese?
regards,
Sevant of Truth -
sputjam says:
based on comments above, best for papuans to avoid any alingment towards china or indons.
@ Ari,
you are correct. IOI bought over unilever’s oil and fats division, loders crocklaan and not the parent company. my apologies.Seems to me, most indon would like to obliterate the papuans, whom many regard as inferior, and replace them with migrants Javanese. So people who live in huts are replaced by civilised squalid squatter shanties from java.
papuans were people who had migrated out of africa, during the frist migration wave, settling in southern india(as tamils), orang asli in peninsular malaysia, the Flores and aboriginals in australia.
The chinese and malay people were from the second wave based on the “out of africa theory”.
papuans contribute very little in terms of overall indonesian economy as their population is very small, remains undeveloped and any wealth extracted from papua, does not translate into any trickling effect onto the population. (i.e. money extracted from commodities/minerals goes to the big boss in jakarta/singapore/ new york etc.) and the tax are paid by the parent company, not at the point of extraction, but at the point of collection i.e. royalties and profits made from mineral/timber are paid to jakarta, not merauke.
those who works for mining company will most probably have their salaries paid in cities whre they live, surviving only on allowance and company benefits at the mining/timber concession.
I am sure the papuans can teach us a few things about natural healing using bountiful herbs and biological concoction found in the jungle, as they have been living there much earlier than any of us by several thousand years.
It is now nearly 50 years since papuans have been integrated into indonesia. The only benefactors are the mining and timber companies.
Any lazy person can be made to work hard if they can see benefits which lie within their interest. but if papuans are comtinued to be plundered,with very little benefits, makes no sense for papunas to work like a slave destroying their homeland.
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Outsider says:
I saw from these comments just show about Chinese and Malay (Javanese included) people difference, have you studied abou people history when you in Junior or Senior High School about waves of Chinese immigration to all part of this whole world?? The Malay who live in Malay Land are from South Chinese who moved from Great China from 1500 B.C., so what’s the purpose that you find from the difference??? Chinese are beg for get the rights in Malay Land or sth.?? Stupid Malays… You just war with your ownself!!!!
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Aluang Anak Bayang says:
@ Outsider
No wonder you are an ‘outsider’.
Re,
The Malay who live in Malay Land are from South Chinese who moved from Great China from 1500 B.C., so what’s the purpose that you find from the difference???
This has been addressed, and NO, we are not Chinese.
The problem with in the nusantara lies with the Chinese. You must be a Malaysian Chinese. Tell me, how many Chinese in Melayu land speak enough bahasa to communicate?
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DXP says:
ALUANG the shadow said:
When I think of Javanese Indonesia, we treated our chinese population reasonably well
Pardon me, the Javanese is just an unsuccessful minority race in the world. You are thinking as the main ruler of the world but you are not, a naif foolish attitude person who forgot this is a global internet media which people outside Indonesia will laugh of loud to an idiot like you.
Wake up, brush your teeth first before you start opening your mouth.
Note : The Indonesian chinese who are no longer speaking & nurture chinese tradition/value are no longer chinese people, this is my view, they are not counted as chinese anymore. So, your statement above looks very very stupid, especially launched by a non-performing race like yours. It is a self confession on how racist you are. Who do you think like to be ruled under a non performing race ? sad to all Indonesian, no wonder unable to make up for their own living, always failure to self managed the domestic affairs, uncompetent population who talk too much
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aren’t we suppose to be comment on how papuans are marginalised, and maybe make some suggestions.
this bumi aganist immigrant races debate has no end. the moment a bumi becomes head of state, they embark on a pro-bumi policy which includes farm confiscation in zimbabwe, helping the hapless american indian communities in bolivia and venezuela etc.in the case of papua, the javanese are the immigrant community. There will be the inevitable clash of culture and thinking. this is a fact. when this occurs, both sides must anhilate the other otherwise or it will end in a stalemate. USA/cnada and australia manage to overwhelm the indigenious population, so no more quarrel..
To avoid this, best to let the pauans freedom to manage their territory.
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Oigal says:
Why has this turned into a chinese – pribumi thing?
It should be a concern to all that the richest country in South East Asia by far has starving children and children who can barely read and write. The worst possible scenario for the region is the break up of Indonesia and yet treating the provinces like a cash cow for the elite and giving nothing back beggars belief in short term, myopic stupidity.
The days of “we didn’t know” or “its not our fault” have long gone, There is a huge number of educated people who could make a difference and demand more from their elected representives but it would appear they just don’t give a damn as long as they have a bright new shiny mall to play in.
On the other hand it perhaps could be said that Indonesia learnt the lessons of colonial exploitation a little too well.
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Arie Brand says:
Frankly I have never understood why the Indonesians, after claiming for years that they were going to liberate the Papuans from ‘colonial slavery’, immediately after their arrival set out to colonise the place themselves. Perhaps people will not believe this but the ‘colonising’ Dutch treated them far more humanely than the incoming Indonesian government ever did.
Where did all that enthusiasm for ‘liberation’ go?
It still puzzles me.
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@ Aluang Anak Bayang
Malay Chinese rarely to speak in Malay because of the goverment weakness of socialization of the Malay language to public in the formal school, they just use english and chinese for the main language??? Why it could be?? Although it’s a native language in Malay Land!!! Have you known in Malay’s neighbor country, Indonesia??? The Chinese people speak in Indonesia because of the goverment socialization in the formal school. But, wait!! sometimes i see Malay people speak in english, is it any problems???
You should study well in history!!! Go back to school!!!
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in the case of papua, the javanese are the immigrant community. There will be the inevitable clash of culture and thinking. this is a fact. when this occurs, both sides must anhilate the other otherwise or it will end in a stalemate. USA/cnada and australia manage to overwhelm the indigenious population, so no more quarrel..
To avoid this, best to let the pauans freedom to manage their territory.
You know nothing, I tell you that there are no single Papuans people because there are more than thousand individual tribes who compete and fight each other for the domination first day we leave Papua hence on the second day they will start to kill each other like what happened in Congo or Rwanda.
Perhaps people will not believe this but the ‘colonising’ Dutch treated them far more humanely than the incoming Indonesian government ever did.
You are kidding I never hear that during Dutch time at Papua, they appointed Governor or Major from Papuans Tribes but now under the brown man rule you see by yourself that most highest position at Papua has been given to Papuans.
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diego says:
@Oigal:
Why has this turned into a chinese – pribumi thing?
Quick answer: dxp, dragonwall, and more recently “outsider”. They just love to twist any issue to chinese-pribumi thing.
@DXP: Ni hao.
Sr. AAB said:
When I think of Javanese Indonesia, we treated our chinese population reasonably well.
And you answered:
Pardon me, the Javanese is just an unsuccessful minority race in the world.
My comment:
First: Sr. AAB told the truth. Apart from the incident in 1998, which affect only a handful of chinese, only in Jakarta, you can see the indon-chinese actually have the economic freedom, living as indonesian citizen just like anyone else, access to public education (which everybody have to pay anyway, sorry it’s not uniquely you / indon-chinese misery). I haven’t seen any indo-chinese having to live in a ghetto. Your compadre, Liem Sioe Liong (and cronies / clones), is a prime example of how well we treat your kind (but apparently “air susu dibalas air tuba” fits well to his case). Now you compare that to the treatment of malaysians to their chinese-descent population. Once you do that, I hope you can understand what Sr. AAB meant by “reasonably well”. If not, well, nobody can help you.
All along his comment, he was describing the way the MALAYSIANS treat your kind. He was talking about MALAYSIANS, not us, INDONESIANS. A world apart. Or… didn’t you it read well? I wouldn’t be too surprised though.
Second: what does your response have to do with the statement from Sr. AAB? To me it only proves one thing: you’re full of craps, watarachinq (racist chinq).
Allright, I’m done with you.
What’s with indonesiamatters.com? Why does it attract prickiechinx like this dxp, dragie, wandi etc?
Wait… are you even an indonesian chinese, DXP? You don’t sound like one. To my knowledge indonesian chinese are all very loving, nice people, social and care about others (nature and people surrounding). They wouldn’t vomit such craps like what you just did. Now you call me anti-chinese? That’s about as wrong as one can get. I love kungfu panda, the movie.
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@ Dragonball
I think your family have been licking the spittles of them and it is because of what he told your dad no wonder you hated the Brits and Aussies.
All along, you were trying to capitalise on Pribumi love-hate relationship with the bule. Whenever there is a opinion clash on IM, you always barge in and sided with the bules, hoping to take cheap shots. It didn’t work, did it?
The Dutch had wronged us. Yes, we disliked them, but all the enimity were long gone. Dutch acknowledged their wrong doings and make amends. Same goes with the rest of the bules. Although we have to keep an eye out for them islamised whitey traitors and english teachers, many loved our land and their generiosities are genuine.
If the Javanese government had treated you so badly, perhaps we should be cruel to be kind. How about we follow one of Melayu government policy: revoke all Chinese citizenship and rights, and on special occassion grant a few families citizenship. That way, we can greatly reduce the like of you, Wandi, DXP and Irene.
If you care to do some research, Chinese are the only one who love lick spittling the bule despite a massacre by the Dutch in the mid 1800s and CIA funded chinese massacre late 1960s. Bule can do no wrong in the eye of the Chinese. If this is not lick spittling, then what is?
This is something new when you refer to green card, so tell me were you the one or your friends that set the rules and regulations governing the what your so call red card and green card in the US. What is a red card and what is a green card?
I doubt you have an education beyond Form 3 with your limited knowledge of government policies of surrounding countries. ‘Stateless’ Green card and Red Card when spoken within the perimeter of IM would not be the US, would it?
… what you always claimed to be a Superior Javanese in your remarks and comments, but still dare not admit that you have Chinese blood flowing in you. So what do you make of this. Does that makes you a traitor, a coward that I always refer about you?
Javanese are culturally superior than the Chinese, no doubt about it. We are highly tolerant and acceptance of anyone different from us. Example, mixed Pri-Chinese will be readily accepted as part of a Javanese family. Chinese will disown them outright.
Chinese blood in me? Now you are suspecting I could be a Chinese, and hence a traitor. Didn’t you say that my Chinese language was crappy? Have a good look at my avatar, do I look like a yellow man? chi lay huan na chin uoi hiam, aa kong aa tiah (hokkien). Bu how khai wan siau ar, how vui shian(mandarin)
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@ DXP
Ni Hao.
Pardon me, the Javanese is just an unsuccessful minority race in the world. You are thinking as the main ruler of the world but you are not, a naif foolish attitude person who forgot this is a global internet media which people outside Indonesia will laugh of loud to an idiot like you.
I can’t see why your people are main ruler of the world, all I see is they are main factory worker of the world. What global internet Media you mean? I recommend you read Achmad’s UFO technology post.
Note : The Indonesian chinese who are no longer speaking & nurture chinese tradition/value are no longer chinese people, this is my view, they are not counted as chinese anymore.
I believe that so too. Always feel they are part of our family.
I tell you a little secret. A poster named Irene had just shown that current Indon-chinese generations are just as racist as their baby boomers’ elders. Their ‘Middle Kingdom’ minset had not changed even with generation Y. If you don’t know what ‘Middle Kingdon attitude’ is, ask comrade Wandi. Irene can tell you Wo dert pa pa hui shak wo if she has a Javanese boyfriend. Should we accept these chinese as Indonesians?
So, your statement above looks very very stupid, especially launched by a non-performing race like yours. It is a self confession on how racist you are.
It would be stupid if we treat unassimilating Chinese as Indonesian. Would you allow Uighur moslem in NW China to self rule? Don’t think you are that stupid, neither are we.
Who do you think like to be ruled under a non performing race ? sad to all Indonesian, no wonder unable to make up for their own living, always failure to self managed the domestic affairs, uncompetent population who talk too much
Reason why we like nongkrong because we are blessed with paradise. There were never any hardship before the mass migration of Chinese into our land. We welcomed them, they abused their priviledge. Should we send them back to China?
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schmerly says:
@AAB.. “Javanese are culturally superior than the Chinese” I think the Chinese might have something to say about that.
“We are highly tolerant and acceptance of anyone different from us” did I get that right? if so you are definitely NOT Javanese with your one-sided rhetoric.
“I recommend you read Achmad’s UFO technology post” yes I recommend it to if you want a good laugh! -
Cukurungan:
“You are kidding I never hear that during Dutch time at Papua, they appointed Governor or Major from Papuans Tribes but now under the brown man rule you see by yourself that most highest position at Papua has been given to Papua”
Yes but everyone knows that it is the Indonesian military commanders who have the real power there. The Papuan governor serves as window dressing.
Moreover, appointing a few Papuans to seemingly high positions doesn’t make up for the tens of thousands of Papuans who have been killed.
As to the Papuans starting to fight each other the day the Indonesians leave: they lived there for thousands of years before the outside world intruded on them and survived. On the other side of the island there was some trouble with Rabaul in the past but I haven’t noticed that Papuans there are presently fighting each other.
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Chris says:
I agree with many points Arie Brand but believe he may have fallen victim to an emotional attachment to Papuans. The Papuans are often viewed by ‘westerners’ as an oppressed minority struggling for freedom from the devious Javanese. The reality is more complex.The anti-Indonesian Papuan elite are often self serving, racist and often corrupt. Their central policies are hidden behind the fashionable veneer of empowerment of indigenous people but are in fact discriminatory to the extreme:
i) Political power should be in the hands of ethnic Papuans! What about the 40%+ of the population that is non ethnic Papuan (Javanese transmigres, Bugis settler communities, Ambonese IDP’s etc etc). Are these people to be denied representation or simply relocated to whence they came?
ii) Christians should predominate! What of the 50% (and growing) muslim population (including significant Papuan and Non Papuan groups)? Should they be excluded because of quotas in favour of Papuan Christians.
iii) Papuans should control the natural resource development programme! Papuan elite policies are designed to discriminate in favour of traditional ‘adat’ leaders (many of whom have questionable rights to the land they claim).
The issue of autonomy is not a simple matter of empowering Papuans it requires detailed analysis of the internal dynamics of the Papuan political scene.
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Burung Koel says:
On the other side of the island there was some trouble with Rabaul in the past but I haven’t noticed that Papuans there are presently fighting each other.
http://www.iansa.org/regions/asiapacific/documents/afr-020405.pdf
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I thank Burung Koel for the link he provided. I note that the article concerned says explicitly that there is no information about the number of victims of tribal warfare in the highlands.
I wonder therefore whether this whole matter is not blown up in this article. There has always been ritual warfare in the highlands. The number of victims was often very small and outside observers have sometimes compared this pastime to a rough kind of village sport giving colour and excitement to an otherwise rather dreary life. At any case I think that the number of victims there is infinitely smaller than that tallied up over the years as a result of military action in the Western part of the island.
Chris, I understand that the complaints referred to in the introduction to this thread have little to do with the ambit claims of ethnic leaders who are after independence. The complaint is about the very imperfect implementation of the Papua Autonomy Act, the discrimination against Papuans in recruitment for the civil service, the widespread poverty among Papuans in spite of the riches of the island. Add to that the arbitrary and often cruel treatment they have over the years received from the military and you get the picture.
I understand that the military there still has a stronger hold on the levers of power than in the heartland of Indonesia. The province is often described as the personal fief of the military. If you have information to the contrary I would like to hear about it.
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I wonder therefore whether this whole matter is not blown up in this article. There has always been ritual warfare in the highlands.
Yes, that’s true. They used to have obsidian axes, spears and bows and arrows, but now they have automatic weapons. I thought that was the point of the article.
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Arie, I think to view this article as a technical discussion about implementation of the autonomy act is too narrow especially when comments are made such as:
the Department of Religion should not repeat the mistakes it had made in East Timor from 1976-99, which had alienated native East Timorese religious leaders, and helped cause that province to break-away from Indonesia, or else something similar might occur in Papua.
This is a thinly veiled threat which in the days when the military were more influential would probably have led to a jail sentence (or worse)! The posts on ‘Demilitarisation and its discontents’ reflect how most bloggers view the idea that the TNI really still holds real power (even in Papua) is outdated.
The Autonomy Act (as I am sure you know) is seen by many Papuans as a precursor to further political separation and by the Papuan elites as a means of advancing their self interests.
My central point is that the main conflict within Papua is not the old simple conflict between TNI/ Indonesian apparatus versus Papuans, but in fact a complex horizontal conflict between members of the Papuan elite representing conflicting ‘adat’ leadership claims, tribal groups and religious sects. http://www.crisisgroup.org (The International Crisis Group) have a series of well researched papers on this issue.
The victims are often as not the ‘settler’ communities who whilst working honestly to further themselves are being marginalised by chauvinist Papuan policies.
Perhaps to some Papuans they see this as positive discrimination or history righting itself but rarely do such policies resolve conflict or advance development.
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Chris, your letter gave me a rather strange feeling. It was as if I heard an Israeli talk about the possible dire consequences for the Israeli settlers on the West Bank if ever the Palestinians might gain some real autonomy in their own territory.
Well, it could be that those settlers would find it hard going then but for the moment they still have very much the upper hand.
Likewise the transmigrants in Papua.
I looked at the paper you recommended (I only found one rather than a ‘series’) and particularly at this sentence:
” Many indigenous Christians feel they are being slowly but surely swamped by Muslim migrants at a time when the central government seems to be supportive of more conservative Islamic orthodoxy, while some migrants believe they face discrimination if not expulsion in a democratic system where Christians can exercise “tyranny of the majority”.”
So the Papuans are worried about what is happening right now while the transmigrants worry about what might possibly be happening in the future. Therefore the term “horizontal conflict” seems to me a bit of a misnomer. The Papuans still seem to be the underlying party as they have been, and very much so, over the last forty five years.
The sketch of the conflict in Manokwari misses a historical dimension. There must still be lingering very bitter feelings there about the brutal action of the Indonesian army against the mini rebellion of the Arfakkers and the fate of the brothers Ariks.
And so it is probably all over the place. The Papuans have a real sense of grievance and god knows that it is justified. It seems to me that any sensible Indonesian policy would take that into account and do something about the particular grievances of today instead of worrying about what might become of the transmigrants if the Papuans gained more autonomy. That bridge can be crossed when people come to it.
You referred to the impression of bloggers here that the power of the military is greatly diminished. Well that might be true for Java but is it also true for Papua? Have you been there recently?
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P.S.
Actually I meant Barend and Lodewijk who were called Mandacan (Mandatjan) rather than Ariks.
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Ardie,
I think we will probably agree to disagree on this one! But to put the record straight on research sources and personal experiences.The series of ICG papers I refer to that informs my view are as follows:
1.Indonesia Communal Tensions in Papua (Jun 2008)
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5485&l=12. Indonesian Papua: A local perspective (Jul 2007)
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=4945&l=13. Papua: Answers to frequently asked questions (Sep 06)
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=4364&l=1From an academic perspective the papers appear to be well researched and balanced interpretations of a complex issue.
As for personal experience I last spent any significant time in Papua Barat during 03/04 (6 months; not the longest period but enough to get a feel for a province). One of the surprising aspects of the remote project site I worked on was that there was no military presence and nor did the military seem inclined to (or even capable of) creating a ‘security situation’ to justify one. There had in the past been some firearms incidents between the military and civilians within the wider region (you mention Manokwari, there was also one closer to me at Tanah Merah village near Babo involving the Brimob guard of the Djayanti corporation and community members over a localised issue). I accept the situation may be different in other regencies, particularly the Timika area.
The tensions in the area of my project site were largely between groups of Papuans vying for influence over land rights or between locals and newcomers to the area over employment (fuelled by the local Papuan bureaucrats providing work permits for cash to all comers). This type of pervasive horizontal social conflict in Papua is picked up in the later ICG research.
I would be surprised if the role of the military has increased since 2004? considering the military reform of the SBY era that have affected the TNI elsewhere. I think the Police now look after the Grasberg mine?
I can fully understand the historical grievances (your explanations in earlier texts have sillustrated that in an informative manner) but just don’t feel that the Papuan elites should use ‘Papuanisation’ as a means of winning favour with the indigenous tribes due to the potential for escalation into social conflict.
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papuans should have the right to determine on immigration matters. otherwise the province will be swamped by immigrants from other parts of indonesia with vastly different thingking and culture and this will lead to conflict.
As an example, christian fillipinos in the north swamped mindanao (a muslim majority island in the southern parts), the chinese in xinjiang and tibet, which are populated by ughuyrs and tibetans respectively.
all the above areas, there are conflicts and tensions. -
indonesiabraveheart says:
o please just accept reality that native papuans weren’t smart enough to pass the test to be a civil servant (a friend of mine called them ‘idiot’ and yes you can blame anything or anyone for that condition)….katanya dulu minta kesetaraan hak sekarang minta diistimewakan..capek deh
go call it for yourself that native papuans are morons …
yet still Indonesian goverment is the perfect moron …
Having one of largest gold mines in the world and just giving it to other nations …
all sympathy for all my papuan friends …
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all sympathy for all my papuan friends …
Tell me what is tribe your papuan friends belong here the list
http://irja.bps.go.id/Suku%20Asli%20Papua_files/SUKU%20BANGSA%20ASLI%20PAPUA%20MENURUT%20URUTAN%20ABJAD.htmSo far I know Amungme tribe do no neet your sympathy because they already have good deal with Freeport and they do not want to share their deal with other tribes
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Thanks for the information Chris and the further references. I am pleased to hear that the role of the TNI in Papua seems somewhat diminished. I am not sure, however, that the police taking over in some cases (you mentioned the Grasberg mine) will do much to lower the level of arbitrary harassment of ordinary people. Allan Nairn has written some trenchant articles on other parts of Indonesia as far as that is concerned.
You wrote:
“I can fully understand the historical grievances (your explanations in earlier texts have sillustrated that in an informative manner) but just don’t feel that the Papuan elites should use ‘Papuanisation’ as a means of winning favour with the indigenous tribes due to the potential for escalation into social conflict.”
I can, offhand, not think of any example where an underlying group has been able to improve its situation without at least some degree of social conflict. Perhaps the movement for civil rights in the US provides the readiest example of such conflict in a democracy. Indonesia is now formally a democracy but I am not sure whether this democracy is strong enough to allow reforms to take place in a comparable manner – I mean through low level conflict. Of course Papuan elites would want to win favour with the indigenous people – without that they would get nowhere. To require that they abstain from this type of policy is tantamount to saying that the PNI elite in pre-war days should not have tried to mobilize ordinary Indonesians because of the potential for social conflict.
However, thinking of this I do agree that often this type of social struggle has, alas, as its main result a mere musical chairs game where one exploitative elite is replaced by another. ‘Independence’ or autonomy is often the beautiful cloak in which this whole process is draped. One can only hope that raising the level of consciousness of ‘ordinary people’would prevent or mitigate such an outcome in Papua.
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Dragonwall says:
http://books.google.com/books?id=4w8PAAAAYAAJ&
http://www.borobudur.tv/history_1.htmhttp://www.indonesiatravel.org.uk/tourist-attractions/java/history-of-java.html
History of Java
History of Java – The Javanese are mostly descended from migrants who settled the island in waves from about 4000 BC. Sawah – or wet rice – agriculture was developed gradually from 2000 BC, and trade with South India began as early as the 3rd century AD. It’s believed that this contact led to the adoption of Hinduism in coastal kingdoms, while Southeast Asian Buddhism was also an influence and developed side by side with Hinduism, along with older beliefs.
In 732 AD the Hindu King Sanjaya founded the kingdom of Mataram, Java’s first major political entity, which controlled much of central Java and built the Borobudur temple complex. By the 10th century, King Sendok’s East Javanese kingdom was dominant; it was later extended by Airlangga and split into two, the eastern Janggara and the western Kediri, after his death.
Mongols invaded Java in 1292, bringing to the throne a new king, Wijaya, and a new kingdom, the Majapahit Empire, which would become the most powerful and famous of Javanese kingdoms until it fell in 1400. By which time Islam was making serious inroads, especially in coastal ports. Coinciding with Islam’s rise was the arrival of the Portuguese in 1511, soon followed by the Spanish, British and Dutch.
In the course of the 17th century, the Dutch became increasingly militaristic and played their rivals off one another. By the early 19th century the Dutch had extended their influence over the sultanates of the interior and claimed Java as Dutch territory.
During the Second World War, in 1942, the island came under the control of Japanese. When the Japanese left the island in 1945, Sukarno proclaimed independence but the Dutch returned and an armed struggle ensued. Ultimately, Indonesia achieved independence in 1949.
http://books.google.com/books?id=WV1MI3glDL4C
Read this below to understand whether like what some idiots say Raden Patah who was a Chinese to be a traitor and when the islamic religion started.
http://artasia.www2.50megs.com/Indonesia/history.htm
and
http://www.archnet.org/library/dictionary/entry.jsp?entry_id=DIA0403&mode=full
The unwillingness to accept what has been a fact and palying the blame game is the main Cause of Disunity. When idiots get together they make a fool out of themselves.
So don’t say the Chinese were the main cause of your your predicament. Simply when you refuse to explore what had happened then you do not have the rights.
Whether is there Chinese blood that flows into you, will be you own co=hoice to accept what is fact and what not to be a fact.
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Read this to understand where Malays and Indonesians originate from and see if there is Chinese blood in you.
Comment on “Causes of Disunity”.
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Hey O,
.
Interesting figures they have in the Tax Office then (no surprise). The whole of Java would be unlikley to produce 16% of GDP. As for (90% of money circulation, revelent how? graft, corruption and greedy, self centred little pretend kings do not produce real wealth of any kind).
I do note competition was high for a job in civil service (although, that is a bizarre term to use) and you make it sound totally merit based., is that true?
How are people without access to good schooling and education (say for instance Papuans or Betawis) supposed to pass any kind of exam (and we won’t even touch on the “application” fees).