Intercepting leadership regeneration in West Papua
Muhamad Rosyid Jazuli — August 2020
The more educated young Indonesians are, the more they would know that their country awaits their contributions. There must have been vast policies that these youngsters do not feel comfortable with because the decision-makers are unrelatable, as they mainly come from a different generation.
This situation depicts what is happening in the West Papua region Indonesia, as its younger generation may be anxious for their future. As the older generation is still dominating the leadership there, intercepting the regeneration, among other things, is paramount.
After more than twenty years of obtaining a special autonomy status, the region which covers two provinces, Papua and West Papua, still suffers from a high rate of crimes and poverty. In the last national survey, the two provinces rest on the bottom of the list, becoming the poorest states in the country (BPS, 2019).
However, the special autonomy is undoubtedly not all bleak. During President Jokowi’s administration, infrastructure development in West Papua has improved massively. For years, the region receives arguably the most government transfers per capita. Also, only Native West Papuans can become government leaders there. Even the police and the military leaders are almost all native West Papuan.
There has been indeed alleged corruption by some of those leaders there. However, some of the special autonomy funds have been nobly allocated. West Papuan youngsters can now be found studying in prestigious universities inside and outside of Papua, like in Java, and even overseas, funded by the special funds. There is heaps of info telling that these young West Papuan students are hardworking and perseverant as many excelled in their studies.
Multiculturalism illiteracy
All those positive milestones than suddenly went dark due to the recent Surabaya incident. It was regrettable that a government officer yelled unnecessarily at some West Papuan students, as you may read elsewhere, calling them monkey.
If you investigate the incident carefully, the yelling could have been avoided if people would have calmed down and started communicating like gentlemen. Individual ignorance was conspicuous, which caused such an unfortunate, racist moment.
The ignorance can easily be traced back to an individual’s poor understanding of multiculturalism. It is saddening that the illiteracy of others’ cultures still feels so stark in Indonesia, whereas a multicultural society is its nature. You may have found some info about Indonesians undermining their West Papuan fellows.
However, there are undoubtedly many more Indonesians that instead, feel blessed and grateful that they have West Papuan friends and family. Thus, those who have a prejudice toward West Papuans are only those multiculturally illiterate and are, in fact, a minority.
As experts see, West Papua is not dissimilar to other regions in Indonesia in many aspects. For example, most people uphold traditional values like respecting the elderly. The region has a political system that is open for contestation every five years, just like in the other areas.
Also, as also happening across the country, most policies implemented in West Papua are undertaken by leaders that happen to be dominated by the older generation.
Seeking answers
The recent West Papua’s spotlight, though, has seemingly been dominated by the younger generation’s voices. These youths, as they would go less and less engaged with the past, are arguably anxious about their future as problems such as poverty and the lack of education access in the region confront them daily.
Meanwhile, this far, we have yet to find robust, clear answers from the central and local governments about some of the fundamental problems primarily related to past human rights violations in the region. Demanding such answers is necessary. However, focusing on what and how these youths can contribute to the region is also imperative.
The older generation dominating the leadership may have poorly crafted policies that could not fit the social, economic, political, and geographical contexts of West Papua. As a result, development progress is allegedly slow.
For example, as West Papua soon sees a massive influx of bright youth from studying outside of West Papua, there have been still limited job opportunities in the region.
Securing the future, thus, should inexorably be a focus of West Papuan younger generation now. With only limited hope can be rested upon the older generation, strategic undertakings, such as the following, are necessary.
Firstly, voluntary programs in sectors like education, soft skill, and business training should be more frequently initiated, such as free after school programs for children and soft skill training for youths. Some organizations, though, like Sa Perempuan Papua, Papua Trada Sampah, Hono Wene, Kitong Bisa, Papua Muda Inspiratif, Numbay Research Center, and Papua Language Institute have emerged and initiated by vehement young West Papuans.
These communities have worked zestfully on providing young West Papuans vast opportunities like research skills learning, startup development training, and extensive access to learning sources and facilities.
Regardless of any regional limitations, these organizations have run tirelessly to contribute to better the younger generation of the region. These youngsters indeed need to keep on running and inspiring others. To this end, others, including the government and the private sectors, can hopefully provide more support and join the ship of the movement.
Secondly, the younger generation needs to embark on an adventurous journey to intercept the leadership regeneration in Papua. Of course, it is easier said than done. With the current massive reserve of bright Native West Papuan youths in and outside of Papua, the region should not be worried about the future. However, the older generation, the current power holders, and decision-makers would not easily give in to the youngsters.
There must be vastly diverging perspectives between both generations. The older may like to hold the status quo, while the younger demands expeditious change.
With the current special autonomy, for example, spending the funds for providing soft skill training for the youths, especially in very remote areas, may look not attractive for the current leaders. It may be, to some extent, politically unbeneficial. Meanwhile, the youngsters see it conversely.
To this end, establishing collaborative communication between the two groups could be a simple yet powerful start. Finding the right compromise between the diverging interests then should follow suit, which is vital in successful policymaking.
The hope is that the older generation understands that they need to regenerate the leadership there and see that these youngsters are there, ready to refill and refresh the administration with new ideas and initiatives.
In the end, it is crucial to secure the future West Papua, through injecting modern knowledge to and transforming the younger generation to join the regional leadership regeneration train. As this essay mentions above, the regeneration reserve is undoubtedly immense as West Papua has endless youths that are globally educated and trained.
West Papua indeed needs fresh leaders and policymakers that emerge from its youths. These individuals are expected to be able to transform any current regulatory regime into productive and positive policies and programs to help the region and the people succeed. (*)
This piece fully represents the writer’s idea. It does not express any ideas or stances of specific institutions or organizations she/he works at or is affiliated with.
