West Papuan demographics – Evening Report

Papuan academics accuse Indonesia of new ‘indigenous marginalisation’ strategy

Asia Pacific Report — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 11:18:17 +0000

Jubi News in Jayapura

Academics at Papuan tertiary institutions have accused Indonesian authorities of a new “indigenous marginalisation” programme through the establishment of the autonomous regions of Papua that poses a “significant threat” to the local population.

The dean of the Faculty of Social Science at Okmin University of Papua, Octaviaen Gerald Bidana, said the new autonomous regions (DOB) established by the central government was a deliberate strategy aimed at sidelining the Indigenous Papuan population.

This strategy involved the establishment of entry points for large-scale transmigration programmes.

Bidana made these remarks during an online discussion titled “Demography, Expansion, and Papuan Development” organised by the Papua Task Force Department of the Catholic Youth Center Management last week.

He said that the expansion effectively served as a “gateway for transmigration”, with indigenous Papuans being enticed by promises of welfare and development that ultimately would turn out to be deceptive.

Echoing Bidana’s concerns, Nguruh Suryawan, a lecturer of Anthropology at the State University of Papua, said that the expansion areas had seen an uncontrolled influx of immigrants.

This unregulated migration, he argued, posed a significant threat to the indigenous Papuan population, leading to their gradual marginalisation.

Riwanto Tirtosudarmo, an Indonesian political demographer, analysed the situation from a demographic perspective.

He said that with the establishment of DOBs in Papua, the Papuan population was likely to become a minority in their own homeland due to the increasing number of immigrants.

The central government’s stated objective for expansion in Papua was to promote equitable and accelerated development in eastern Indonesia.

However, the participants in this online discussion expressed scepticism, saying that the reality on the ground told “a different story”.

The discussion was hosted by Alfonsa Jumkon Wayap, chair of the Women and Children Division of the Catholic Youth Central Board, and was part of a regular online discussion series organised by the Papua Task Force Department of the Catholic Youth Central Board.

Papuan demographics
Pacific Media Watch reports that the 2020 census revealed a population of 4.3 million in the province of Papua of which the majority were Christian.

However, the official estimate for mid-2022 was 4.4 million prior to the division of the province into four separate provinces, according to Wikipedia.

The official estimate of the population in mid-2022 of the reduced province of Papua (with the capital Jayapura) was 1.04 million.

The interior is predominantly populated by ethnic Papuans while coastal towns are inhabited by descendants of intermarriages between Papuans, Melanesians and Austronesians, including other Indonesian ethnic groups.

Migrants from the rest of Indonesia also tend to inhabit the coastal regions.

Republished from Jubi News with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Why Indonesia’s planned new Papuan provinces will cause division and destruction

Asia Pacific Report — Sun, 07 Feb 2021 02:17:53 +0000

The politics of divide and rule and how Indonesia’s attempt to separate indigenous Papuans is an irrational and unrealistic proposal that will damage the cultural values of kinship and togetherness as Melanesian people, writes Dr Socratez Yoman.

ANALYSIS: By Dr Socratez Yoman

The Indonesian coloniser has become an ignorant ruler with deaf ears and with evil intention in fighting for the addition of new Papuan provinces without the population numbers to justify this.

Provincial division is a serious problem because the population of Papua and West Papua does not meet the requirements to establish new provinces.

The planned provinces will cause division and destruction of the cultural values of kinship and togetherness as Melanesian people.

After Indonesia failed with a plan to move 2 million indigenous Papuans to Manado, the new strategy devised by the Jakarta authorities is to separate indigenous Papuans according to ethnic groups. This is a crime against humanity and is a gross human rights violation carried out by the state.

The author followed the presentation from the Minister of Home Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Tito Karnavian, to the Working Meeting of Commission I DPD RI in Jakarta on 27 January 2021 regarding the government’s version of the Provincial Expansion scenario which was not rational or realistic.

The Minister of Home Affairs is not paying attention to the standards and requirements for the development of a new administrative area, such as area size, population, human resources and financial and natural resources.

The criteria for a new government have been largely ignored, but political interests and remilitarisation have become the main mission. To be honest, the people and nation of West Papua do not need lots of division of districts and provinces.

Military purpose for new provinces
These new provinces are only for political and military purposes and to move excess population from Java.

The proposal in summary

1. Papua Province
(the original province)
Capital: Jayapura
a. Jayapura Town
b. Jayapura Regency
c. Keerom Regency
d. Sarmi Regency
e. Maberamo Raya Regency
f. Waropen Regency
g. Kep. Yapen Regency
h. Biak Numfor Regency
i. Supiori Regency

2. South Papua Province
(new province)
Capital: Merauke
a. Merauke Regency
b. Boven Digoel Regency
c. Mappi Regency
d. Asmat Regeny
e. Peg Bintang Regency

3. Central Eastern Papua Province
(new province)
Capital: Wamena
a. Jayawijaya Regency
b. Lani Jaya Regency
c. Tolikora Regency
d. Nduga Regency
e. Maberamo Tengah Regency
f. Yalimo Regency
g. Yahukimo Regency
h. Puncak Jaya Regency
i. Puncak Regency

4. Western Central Papua Province
(still under debate)
Capital: Mimika
a. Mimika Regency
b. Paniai Regency
c. Deiyai Regency
d. Dogiay Regency
e. Nabire Regency
f. Intan Jaya Regency

5. West Papua Daya Province
(previously mostly West Papua Province)
Capital: Sorong
a. Town of Sorong
b. Sorong Regency
c. Sorong Selatan Regency
d. Maybrat Regency
e. Tambrauw Regency
f. Raja Ampat Regency

With these additions Papua would have five provinces. The mechanism for provincial expansion is in accordance with Article 76 of the Special Autonomy Law with additional authority changes from the central government when there is a deadlock in the region.

The total population of West Papua includes two provinces respectively: Papua Province 3,322,526 people and West Papua 1,069,498 inhabitants. The total is 4,392,024 inhabitants.

Evenly dividing up population
If the population is divided evenly from the total population of 4,392,024 the population for the five provinces are as follows:

1. Papua Province will be inhabited by a population of 878,404 people.

2. West Papua Province will be inhabited by a population of 878,404 people.

3. The Province of Puppet I will be inhabited by a population of 878,404 people.

4. The Province of Puppet II will be inhabited by a population of 878,404 people.

5. The Province of Puppet III will be inhabited by a population of 878,404 people.

The question is whether a province with a total population of 878,404 people is worthy and eligible to become a province?

It is very important to compare with the population of the provinces of West Java, Central Java and East Java.

1. Total population of West Java: 46,497,175 people.

2. Total population of Central Java: 35,557,248 people.

3. Total Population of East Java: 38,828,061 people.

The question is why does the government of the Republic of Indonesia not carry out splitting the provinces of West Java, Central Java and East Java, which have the largest population sizes?

‘Transfer of excess population’
As a consequence of a population shortage in this province, the Indonesian authorities will transfer the excess population of Malay Indonesians to these puppet provinces.

The creation of these five provinces also have as their main objective to build 5 military area commands, 5 police area command bases, tens of military district commands and dozens of police district headquarters and various other units. The land of Melanesia will be used as the home of the military, police and Indonesian Malay people.

The consequences will be that the indigenous Papuans from Sorong to Merauke will lose their land because the land will be robbed and looted to build office buildings, military headquarters, police headquarters, army district bases, and police district bases.

Humans will be removed, made impoverished, without land and without a future, even slaughtered and destroyed like animals in a natural or unnatural way as we have experienced and witnessed until the present.

There is evidence that a genocide process has been carried out by the modern colonial rulers of Indonesia in this era of civilisation. The crimes of the Indonesian colonial rulers continue to be exposed in public.

In 1969, when the West Papuan people were integrated into Indonesia, the indigenous population was around 809,337 people. Meanwhile, the neighbouring independent state of Papua New Guinea has around 2,783,121 people.

Since then, the indigenous population of PNG has reached 8,947,024 million, while the number of Indigenous Papuans is still only 1.8 million.

Modern colonial ruler
This fact shows that the Indonesian government is a modern colonial ruler which has occupied and colonised the people and nation of West Papua.

Dr Veronika Kusumaryati, a daughter of Indonesia’s young generation in her dissertation entitled: Ethnography of the Colonial Present: History, Experience, And Political Consciousness in West Papua, revealed:

“For Papuans, current colonialism is marked by the experience and militariSation of daily life. This colonialism can also be felt through acts of violence that are disproportionately shown to Papuans, as well in the narrative of their lives.

“When Indonesia arrived, thousands of people were detained, tortured and killed. Offices were looted and houses burned. … these stories did not appear in historical books, not in Indonesia, nor in the Netherlands. This violence did not stop in the 1960s.”

(Kusumaryati, V. (2018). Ethnography of the Colonial Present: History, Experience, And Political Consciousness in West Papua, p. 25).

The Indonesian government repeats the experience of the colonial rulers of apartheid in South Africa. In 1978, Peter W. Botha became Prime Minister and he carried out a politics of divide and conquer by dividing the unity of the people of South Africa through establishing puppet states: 1. The Transkei Puppet State. 2. The Bophutha Tswana Puppet State. 3. Venda Puppet State. 4. The Ciskei Puppet State. (Source: 16 Most Influential Heroes of Peace: Sutrisno Eddy, 2002, p. 14).

There is a serious threat and displacement of indigenous Papuans from their ancestral lands proven by the fact that in the regencies they have been robbed by the Malays and have been deprived of their basic rights for Indigenous Papuans in the political field. See the evidence and examples as follows:

1. Sarmi Regency 20 seats: 13 migrants and 7 indigenous Papuans (OAP).

2. Boven Digul Regency 20 seats: 16 migrants and 6 Indigenous Papuans

3. Asmat Regency 25 seats: 11 migrants and 14 Indigenous Papuans

4. Mimika Regency 35 seats: 17 migrants and OAP 18 Indigenous Papuans

5. 20 seats in Fakfak District: 12 migrants and 8 Indigenous Papuans.

6. Raja Ampat Regency, 20 seats: 11 migrants and 9 Indigenous Papuans.

7. Sorong Regency 25 seats: 19 migrants and 7 Indigenous Papuans.

8. Teluk Wondama Regency 25 seats: 14 migrants and 11 Indigenous Papuans.

9. Merauke Regency 30 seats: 27 migrants and only 3 Indigenous Papuans.

10. South Sorong Regency 20 seats. 17 migrants and 3 indigenous Papuans.

11. Kota Jayapura 40 seats: Migrants 27 people and 13 indigenous Papuans.

12. Kab. Keerom 23 seats. Migrants 13 people and 7 indigenous Papuans.

13. Kab. Jayapura 25 seats. Migrants 18 people and 7 indigenous Papuans.

Meanwhile, the members of the Representative Council of Papua and West Papua Provinces are as follows:

Papua Province out of 55 members, 44 Papuans and 11 Malays/Newcomers.;
West Papua Province, out of 45 members, 28 Malays/Newcomers and only 17 Indigenous Papuans.

Reverend Socratez Sofyan Yoman is a Baptist priest, author and human rights defender from Papua. He filed this article for Asia Pacific Report.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Shifting demographics in West Papua highlight conflict, says academic

Pacific Media Centre — Mon, 30 Jan 2017 03:24:27 +0000

AsiaPacificReport.nz

A “Melanesia not Indonesia” solidarity demonstration with the banned Morning Star flag for West Papua in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Image: Vanuatu govt

New statistics show indigenous Melanesians are not yet the minority they were previously thought to be in West Papua, reports Radio New Zealand International’s Dateline Pacific.

Indonesia’s Statistics Office has produced an ethnic breakdown of the Papua region, based on the last census in 2010 which established an overall population of 3.6 million.

While the proportion of Papuan people as a percentage of the population continues to decline, this process varies widey between different regencies, reports Dateline Pacific.

The percentage of Papuans has fallen catastrophically in some regions, particularly in urban centres, but Papuans still make up the vast majority in the Highlands.

Using the new data, Dr Jim Elmslie of Sydney University’s West Papua Project has produced a new paper at Global Research updating his previous work on Papua’s demographic transition.

He talks to Johnny Blades of Dateline Pacific:

Transcript:
JIM ELMSLIE: You’ve got to handle the figures with some degree of care and you’ve got to sort of doubt the accuracy to some extent because the large area that’s there, the terrain, the fact that large areas of the Highlands, I don’t know if you’d call it a revolt, but there are certain areas that are conflicts between certain areas of the island and the state are fairly entrenched. So the figures – what you can get clearly from them is the trend and the change over time and that’s clearly continuing because of the large-scale inward migration of non-Papuan settlers drawn into the region mostly for economic opportunity, and most of that economic opportunities are on the plains.

JOHNNY BLADES: You’ve established that the Melanesians – the Papuans – their growth rate is quite a bit less than the non-Papuans.

JE: That’s what the research shows and that’s even given that the numbers are a bit rubbery. Because for [Indonesia] to conduct an accurate census would be damn-near impossible and the figures that we have to use, so we use them. But anecdotally as well – from talking to health experts and looking at what’s going on on the ground compared to say PNG – then yeah the birth rate clearly is lower. There’s a whole range of reasons for that. One is the infant mortality and the maternal mortality rate is very high, there are untreated diseases that cause infertility. But that’s fairly clear and it’s also clear that large numbers of migrants are coming in, the government is building new ports, there are ships that come in on a weekly basis, there’s many flights every day from other parts of Indonesia. There’s clearly the demand, and as we’re talking, they are clearing tens of thousands of acres of rainforest and putting in labour-intensive things like oil palm plantations, where the workers are being brought in from Java rather than being recruited locally.

JB: Back in 2010 you had estimated that the total population of West Papuans in West Papua, that whole Papua region, was some 48 percent. And now with these new BPS [Indonesian Statistics Office] figures it’s indicating that their percentage is something like 66 percent. Isn’t that in some ways a positive, given that in the last couple of years a lot of the discourse around the West Papuan diplomatic wrangle has been around them having become a minority in their own land?

JE: Well, when you extrapolate these figures forward, and there’s two different population growth rates, you come up with these figures of the minoritisation of the Papuan population. And that was a projection, I guess, if all else remained the same. And I think the exact figures may vary but the trend is still there. So in terms of whether that’s positive or not… I think it certainly is positive that large areas of the Highlands of West Papua are still populated very strongly by groups of indigenous Melanesian people, even if that’s not the case in the lowlands. But it means that the Papuans, certainly in the Highlands, are not on the verge of disappearing under the weight of inward migration. So yes, I think that’s a positive thing. Some people seem to feel that the general conflict in West Papua would disappear over time as the Papuan population became a minority. Well that’s obviously not going to happen. That is happening in the lowlands, but it’s not going to happen anytime soon in the Highlands, even though – I must stress again – that there’s a lot of development going on there which will bring in outsiders, bring in more military, which will always be a threat to them [Papuans].

JB: Transmigrasi is no longer an official programme, is that right? But these people are still coming in?

JE: Yeah so there’s no official transmigration, but it’s the policy, I think, of the Indonesian government because looking at the bigger picture of Indonesia and the Indonesian economy – and people talk about it growing – West Papua makes up something like 23 or 24 percent of the land mass of Indonesia and it’s got huge resources: obviously the forestry, when most of the rest of the trees of Indonesia have been cut down, so Papua is really the last place where there’s huge stands of rainforest; there’s also the mineral wealth which is possibly the richest part of the entire world – the Freeport mine is probably the biggest gold mine in the world, the biggest copper mine, it’s also the biggest economic entity in Indonesia and also the biggest taxpayer. So looking into the future, the Indonesians’ capacity to exploit the natural resources of West Papua, and with all that brings, that will be one of the factors that allow Indonesia to grow as people are predicting it to grow, and become one of the main economies in southeast Asia, and certainly bigger than Australia. Which is one of the fears, I guess, which is underlying Australian policy, that in some future when the Indonesian economy overtakes the Australian economy in size, and Indonesia becomes a more important country internationally, then that’s going to be quite a different situation than has been the case in this part of the world up until now, where the Australian economy and therefore its military resources and the rest of it were superior to the Indonesians. So a lot of that long-term growth will come out of West Papua. And if that continues, it will involve shifting more and more people down to that region.

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