When it comes to women’s rights in Papua and West Papua, Hana Salomina Hikayobi should be on the first list. Through her writing, Hana voices the women who have been silenced by a political system, cultural, and social. Hana, who was born on June 7, 1966, received the 2015 SK Trimurti and has made many great changes.
The 2015 SK Trimurti
The Independence Journalist Alliance or Aliansi Jurnalis Independen (AJI) handed the 2015 SK Trimurti to Hana as Papuan women’s empowerment and human rights (HAM) activist. She, at the same time, was also the founder and manager of the Suara Perempuan Tabloid.
For the past 15 years, Hana has been actively involved in making local regulations on non-violence against Papuan women. The SK Trimurti was given to grant this woman dedication. A Member of the 2015 Trimurti SK Jury Council, Yoseph Adi Prasetyo, added that this too hopefully would raise the government’s awareness to people who dedicate their life to Papua and West Papua’s improvement.
According to judges and Trimurti SK Award Committee, Hana was awarded the honor in September 2015 because of some reasons. One of them was because Hana has been constantly fighting for gender education as well as defending women’s rights in Papua and West Papua despite the difficult and unstable political and economic situations.
Long Struggle
Hana once occupied the position of Vice Chairman II of Papuan People’s Assembly (2006-2011). Actively took part in the Papuan Women’s Working, Hana never stopped demanding a 30 percent quota for women in parliament.
To support her cause, Hana established mass media in August 2004 called Tabloid Suara Perempuan Papua (TSPP) or Papuan Women’s Voice Tabloid. Besides that, Hana also wrote a book called Kabar dari Kampung: Perjalanan Jurnalistik Suara Perempuan Papua or News from the Village: Papuan Women’s Voice Journalism Journey. The book mentions that in many areas in Papua and West Papua, women’s rights were still neglected.
Hana revealed that she purposely picked the tabloid name because she was aware the voices of women and children in Papua were abandoned. She chose media as a tool to connect locals’ voices and become a determinant for policy direction.
Through TSPP, Hana suggested Papuan women who worked at the market dare to fight for the right to a decent life with the help of capital assistance. This tabloid also urged women to be brave enough to step into the bureaucratic world and have a career in the legislative world.
It didn’t stop there. Hana and her working partners also repeatedly held writing or journalism training classes for local women. Papua and West Papua’s women often chatted about what they saw and things that happened around them. That’s why Hana challenged Papuan women to transfer things they talked about in the form of writing.
Her Struggle Was Paid Off
Hana convinced them to write anything. They could write about the education system, health facility, economy in their lives, or even domestic violence. She also believed that making women on this island read the tabloid would eventually change their mindset. Even though it didn’t happen overnight, changes happened.
Hana’s wish was gradually becoming a reality. In the same year, there was a great movement in democratic life, especially from Papuan women. Several alumni of the journalism training also succeeded in landing professional careers in the world of journalism.
Some of the alumni worked at RRI, television media, and other media in Wamena. Some even joined famous media such as Tempo. Hana once said that she had the obligation to voice women’s rights because it was part of responsibility to the country, God, and the people. That was the principle she held on to.
Now we know what Hana Salomina Hikayobi has done to her society. Thanks to her belief and struggle, women in Papua and West Papua dare to speak up and have a place to voice their thoughts.
