Even though Papua has been part of Indonesia for a long time ago, several heroic names are hardly known. Most of them are far from the public view since the lack of exposure. However, you can find many national heroes from West Papua. And one of the names is Marthen Indey, an activist that supports the Indonesia and Papua integration.
Who Is Marthen Indey?
It is not a surprise that Marthen Indey’s name is rarely heard as the national hero. One of the reasons is due to his originality. He was born on March 16th, 1912, in Doromena, Jayapura. The man later passed away on July 17th, 1986. During that time, he wasn’t known as a hero, since his title of national hero was given on September 14th.
As a man that was part of Papua and Indonesia unification, Marther was colonial police under the Dutch government. It is safe to say that the Papuan-born man has been part of colonialism in Papua. However, his vision changed after meeting with some prominent Indonesian political prisoners.
The historic moment happened during his duty in Digul prison. He met with several Indonesian prisoners that revealed the real situation of Indonesia, Papua, and the colonials. The prominent figures are Sugoro Atmos Prasojo, the School of Administration director at Kota Nica. After that, he changed his mind and started to support Indonesia and West Papua integration.
Pre-Anti Colonial (during wartime)
Marthen was a smart and educated person with Malay language fluency. He also graduated from a district school and spent his youth learning in a dutch school at Makassar called Kweekschool Voor Indische Schepelingen. He also enrolled and completed his police academy under Dutch in 1935. Which later sent him to New Guinea to join Dutch campaigns.
Before he turned into a nationalist, he spent much of his time as police in New Guinea and participated in many Dutch campaigns. He also signed to work clandestinely to track Japanese movement in Manokwari during 1940 and 1941. However, it was in 1941 that he met with an Indonesian politician prisoner that changed his mindset.
Since he is part of the colonial police, he takes the opportunity to befriend prisoners and plan for a coup d’état. It said that during his duty to confiscate Japanese weapons, he buried the resources that would be dug up to fight for independence. Before known as a West Papua nationalist, he was also exiled when Japan occupied the Dutch east indies.
As The Anti-Colonial Figures
After his exile and training in Brisbane, he returned to Papua after the Japanese lost in the war. During that time, he was part of NICA or Netherlands indies civil administration. Since then, the organization and some Papuans plotted to strike against Dutch on December 25th, 1945. But the plan was discovered by Dutch and imprisoned the leaders.
That was one of many efforts he made to fight the colonists from Indonesia and Papua. Along with other figures such as Silas Papare, Sugoro, Frans Kaisiepo, his struggle is contained. His next effort was to join the Komite Indonesia Merdeka in October 1946, after he got the freedom. He also joined an anti-duct clandestine organization at Jayapura.
While Indonesia gained its independence on August 17th, 1945, but western Papua is still under dispute. Indonesia and the Dutch fight for the region’s rights. That is why figures such as Marthen take the reign to support Indonesia and West Papua integration. Many efforts made him a target of arrest by the Dutch.
One of his prominent movements is as the head or chairman of KIM. He also established a larger and more active organization known as Partai Kemerdekaan Indonesia irian in November 1946 with Silas Papare. Along with the Pro-Indonesian Papuan struggle, he also went to Ambon to join a clandestine fight against Dutch. But he ended up with 4-5 years Dutch imprisonment.
His Role In Indonesian Independence
Despite Indonesian independence, the Papua and new guinea dispute between Indonesia and the Netherlands continues. Thus, he as one of the prominent figures take part in being a leader of the pro-Indonesian Papuans in the Netherlands New Guinea. Later that time, he was involved in Indonesia’s operation Trikora to gain Papuan independence.
He was also one of the figures that went to New York City in 1962 as part of the US and Indonesian negotiation. The negotiation resulted in the New York agreement, which later helped join Irian Jaya or West Papua to Indonesia. His last movement was calling for immediate unification with Indonesia and ending UN presence with Lucas Jouwe in 1963.
The former colonial police officer assigned in New Guinea, Marthen changed his side and became a nationalist hero for both Papua and Indonesian revolutions. He took part in many actions and political movements to fight against colonials. After Indonesian independence, he was also one of the pro-Indonesian Papuans figures.
