Papua Peace Program Update By: Alice Frazer Evans
 

“To boldly go where no one has gone before, one group of scientists didn't have to venture into space.
They found a lost world right here on Earth.”

This description by National Geographic News (2/7/06) introduced remarkable discoveries by a team of conservationists who traveled to some of the most remote parts of the island of New Guinea. Deep into the dense rainforests of the western half of the island, in the Indonesian province of Papua, the scientists found animals, birds, reptiles and insects that had never been recorded.  As one exclaimed, "Everywhere we looked we saw amazing things we had never seen before."

Although Bob Evans’ and my experiences in Papua this past January were not in the dense rainforests, we had a tremendous experience encountering cultures and challenges we had not previously met. We were privileged to be invited to work for a week in the capital city of Jayapura with the Papua Peace Committee, a recently formed body of indigenous Papuan academic, religious, community and development leaders. We were co-leading the course with our Indonesian partner, Judo Poerwowidagdo from the Yogyakarta-based Center for Empowering Reconciliation and Peace, and were supported by Plowshares contributions and a grant from the Swiss Embassy in Indonesia.

Members of the Peace Committee are preparing themselves to work constructively on pressing and potentially destabilizing conflicts between the Indonesian government and local groups. These include the widening disparity between migrants from other parts of Indonesia and the indigenous Papuan population, just compensation for the vast amount of extracted natural resources including timber and gold, and corruption in the national police and court system. One of the most urgent issues is whether the national government will honor pledges of autonomy for the Papuan People’s Assembly which supports the Peace Committee. My strongest images of these committed participants are their openness and warm welcome to strangers, their insightful team pantomimes of creative ways to address human rights violations, their delight in games, and their consistent energy and dedication for a full week of classes from morning through late afternoon.

Reflections of early morning and evening walks around Jayapura evoke images of the noise of hundreds of motor bikes and taxis (battered white vans packed with people – cost of a group taxi to anywhere in the city about US 20 cents) and Papuan women sitting on the ground in front of a gleaming KFC selling their carefully arranged piles of yams,  bananas, papaya, taro, tomatoes and beans. In the evening at the same a busy intersection hopeful Papuans stood by their small stands selling fresh breads and beetle nuts while music blared from a boom box drawing customers to a stall of recently copied CDs. Signs of the informal Papuan economy were in stark contrast to the well-healed shops, restaurants and small hotels operated by “transmigrants” – the rapidly expanding population of educated Indonesians arriving from Java, Sulawesi and Sumatra seeking their fortune in the newest Indonesian frontier.

The vibrant activity of Jayapura was also in bold contrast to the quiet rural simplicity of Wamena, a village of the highland Dani people which is a one-hour flight from the the Sentani airport near the capital – or a 24 hour drive through dense jungles and steep mountain passes - if it hasn’t rained recently. The small village of Wamena is nestled in a river valley between magnificent, steep 15,000 feet mountains. We were warned in advance that if there was a hard rain, there was a good chance that departing planes could be delayed for hours or even days.

Our WWII era prop plane took us over massive river systems, seemingly unending jungles and spectacular mountain ranges. There were no signs of human habitation until we banked sharply and dove onto the tiny airstrip in the middle of village huts, rice paddies, vegetable gardens, churches and several businesses connected by unpaved roads. We experienced the quiet dignity of the black Melanesian Dani people; a small vibrant open market filled with fresh vegetables, spices, varieties of river fish, clothes, shoes, curious children; a field of pigs for sale - and our surprise to learn that pigs are so prized in this culture that a mature hog costs more than twice a full grown water buffalo.       

Wamena is one of the few Papuan villages accessible by plane; nevertheless, even here educational options for children are scarce, and few parents have the means to send their children to schools in Jayapura.  There are thousands of other villages in the dense forests inhabited by hundreds of tribes with different cultures and more than 400 languages.  However, there are few formal schools to equip the next generations to meet the challenges of the 21^st Century. These communities are threatened not only by the destruction of the forests which have sustained them for centuries, but by massive gold and copper mines and the invasion of industries following discoveries of more valuable minerals and oil. (The world’s largest gold mine is in Papua and is owned by a US company.)

Although Wamena is safe for visitors, and we walked comfortably though the narrow streets of the town, we were also clearly aware of the tension between the Indonesian military units stationed in and near Wamena and the indigenous Papuans who continue to oppose the formal annexation of Papua by Indonesia, the repressive control of the army, and the devastation from illegal logging of their forests. These experiences - the markets, the openness to strangers and the curious children –are not new to anyone blessed by the opportunity to visit quiet corners of the “developing world”. However, we are not often touched so deeply by a part of the world where the indigenous population is diminishing, the immigrant population is quickly expanding, and the indigenous leadership by groups such as the Peace Committee are working so valiantly to preserve their people and their cultures.  We have been asked to return to work with the Papuan Peoples Assembly whose leadership endorses and supports the Committee.  With the prayers and help of Plowshares supporters we are committed to accept.