Papua standing strong against terrorism!
NEWS — April 2021
Indonesia has recently been shocked by a case of terrorism in the form of a suicide bombing. Various elements of society in Indonesia immediately responded to this situation. People from different regions, including Papua, indeed disagreed and condemned this heinous act.
Various elements of society and the Forum for Religious Harmony (Forum Kerukunan Umat Beragama — FKUB) in Papua seriously condemn acts of terrorism in the country. In this context, they condemned the Makassar suicide bombing, which attacked Makassar Cathedral Church, and the attack on the Jakarta Police Headquarters just days after the suicide bomb, last March 2021.
The statement condemning all terrorism acts across Indonesia was lamented in the “Peace Declaration from the Land of Papua.” The declaration was read by the Deputy Chairperson of the FKUB, who is also the Chairperson of Papua’s Indonesian Council of Ulama or MUI, Mr. Syaiful Islam Al Payage, a native Papuan Muslim religious leader.
As reported by Beritasatu.com, the event which took place in Sentani, Papua, early April, to be precise on Saturday (3/4/2021), was also attended by various figures. They were the Chairperson of the Papua FKUB, Pastor Lipius Biniluk, Papua Regional Police Deputy General Eko Rudi Sudarto, Silas Papare Air Base Commander Marsma Budhi Achmadi, TNI and Polri officials, and other religious leaders and leaders of all components of the Papuan society.
In its statement of stance, FKUB Papua strongly condemned every act of terrorism, including suicide bombings. The group invited all society and religious community representatives to remain calm and entrust the legal process entirely to law enforcement.
“We are determined to be at the forefront and together with all components of the nation to continue to maintain religious harmony in order to maintain national unity and integrity,” said Mr. Payage. FKUB Papua also invited all components of society and religious communities in Papua to reject all forms of exploitation of various issues such as racism, intolerance, radicalism, and terrorism.
In addition, so that radicalism and terrorism do not develop in Indonesia, FKUB Papua hoped that the government would continuously identify radicalized sects and take firm action against those entities that are not in accordance with the applicable law in the country.
Papua is well-known as a region with a high level of tolerance for diversity. As written by Kompas.com, at the end of 2020, the Deputy Minister of Religion (Wamenag) of Indonesia, Zainut Tauhid said, West Papua Province deserved to be a laboratory for religious harmony in Indonesia. Zainut added that the index of religious harmony in West Papua stood at 82.2 percent.
At the momentum of the inauguration of the West Papua MUI Office, as reported by Antara, the deputy minister said, “This is the highest marks (of religious harmony) in Indonesia, so it is not wrong for West Papua Province to become a laboratory of religious harmony in Indonesia.” (21/8/2020).
This appreciation and recognition were indeed the results of the leaders’ efforts in Papua to maintain inter-religious peace there. West Papua Governor Dominggus Mandacan said that the Papuan people will always continue to strive and work hard in maintaining religious tolerance and harmony.
For him, justice and equality in religion must continue to be manifested in various religious activities. He also invited all religious communities in his region to maintain the tradition of mutual trust in realizing a pluralist and moral Indonesia.
“Avoid hate speech, establish mutual trust, mutual care, and respect for the beliefs and beliefs of other religions, so that all harmonize and coexist well,” said the governor.
Various parties have long emphasized that Papua is indeed the area most open to differences. This openness has even made many individuals who are not native Papuans feel that they are true Papuans, for example, because they were born and raised there. They easily acculturate Papuan culture and feel comfortable living side by side with Papuans.
Of course, nothing is perfect. Papua has been hit by ‘unsavory’ issues several times, for instance, the case of racism. However, in general, the Papuan people still have the right to lead Papua. That has been the case so far where all regional leaders there are indigenous Papuans. What needs to be appreciated is that most Papuan leaders highly uphold multiculturalism because they believe that this is the source of Papua’s prosperity.
