Marthen Goo recalled the Regional General Hospital (RSUD) Dok II Jayapura in the 1960s. The hospital has become a health reference in the Asia-Pacific region, and we must take care of the conflict of West Papua Genocide rumours and speculation seriously.
According to tabloidjubi.com journalist Julian Howay, several hospitals and health clinics were built when the Dutch controlled the Netherland Nieuw Guinea region (now Papua). One of them is in the area of Holland (now Jayapura).
Does the West Papua Genocide Happen?
After the independence era, said Marthen, he heard stories about Papuans who struggled to get health services every day.
He recounted his own experiences, family, and neighbors. “If he is treated at the Nabire Hospital, it is far from people’s homes,” he said. Meanwhile, transportation costs are expensive.
“Sometimes people have to choose; the money they get is for transportation or treatment.” said Marthen, as if he wanted to show how low the people’s economic capacity was in their hometown.
Upon arriving at the hospital, residents did not get services according to standards because the facilities did not support them. Many people have died because of this.
Is the Shooting Incident of Civiliansor the Genocide in West Papua Conflict a Figment?
A recent report released by the Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) Commission of the Diocese of Brisbane, Australia, entitled “We Will Lose Everything”, raised issues of violence and marginalization in Papua since the 1960s.
The report was finally released after the Indonesian government refused to accept a proposal from top leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum in September 2015.
The Brisbane Diocese’s JPIC Commission then sent a small team on a fact-finding mission about human rights violations in Papua in February 2016.
All this violence and human rights violations on Bumi Cendrawasih, according to the report, stemmed from the involvement of international powers. It allowed the Indonesian government to control Papua in the 1960s without the free consent of the Papuan people.
The political event of the People’s Opinion, a referendum held in 1969 in West Papua to determine the status of the western part of Papua Island between the Netherlands and Indonesia, was rejected by several Papuans and is believed to have resulted in various systematic acts of West Papua Genocide to this day.
The violence took the form of intimidation, detention, beatings, torture, and killings of Papuans who carried out peaceful demonstrations to show their resistance to Jakarta and their demands to end the violence by the security forces.
Has Jokowi Never Discussed Violence in Papua?
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) Commissioner, Natalius Pigai, confirmed that his party had reported this alleged gross human rights violation to the president. It includes allegations of genocide in Papua.
Komnas HAM last submitted the report to the president through a recommendation on December 10, 2014.
Then What was the Result?
Instead of responding, “The president has never responded to human rights issues in Papua until now,” he said.
Pigai said the report was urgent because the condition of the Papuans was getting more and more alarming. As Marthen noted, there were shootings of civilians and the problem of poverty.
“Some clans in Papua have become extinct, in West Papua and almost all over Papua,” he said.
Migrants and migrant groups, in this case, the Indonesian government, make conditions for Papuans to become a minority in their land.
The West Papua Genocide process is not new. Long ago, George Junus Aditjondro stated that “There was this phenomenon in the 1980s and the 90s,”.
George Junus Aditjondro is the author of “Cahaya Bintang Kejora: West Papua in the Study of History, Culture, Economics, and Human Rights”. One of his writings discusses Papua.
As the result, the report from Komnas HAM and the Brisbane Commission is sufficient for the government to take action. It is to break the chain of human rights crimes, especially genocide in Papua.
What is the Government’s Response to This?
Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, said he would investigate the findings. “If there is initial evidence, we will process the West Papua Genocide openly,” he said.
Meanwhile, the State Palace has not yet made a statement.
