Political gains behind ULMWP’s West Papua army unification statement
Benny Wenda announced recently that his organization, the ULMWP, has unified some factions of West Papuan armed separatist groups. Adding to that, the new ‘West Papua Army’ is claimed to be run under ULMWP and ready to take over West Papua. However, it has been confirmed that one alleged party, the OPM-TPN which is the long-running domestic separatist group, has rejected the announcement and regard it as “lies and fabrication”. The rejection shows us, though, that the unification is a made up, manipulative statement which is made for dirty political gains. It also represents how deceitful and deceptive Benny Wenda and his organization are.
The made-up statement
It has been reported that as the chairman of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua or known as ULMWP, Benny Wenda stated that he has successfully unified, for the first time, the three major West Papuan armed factions under a single arm. Moreover, under this so-called ‘Vanimo Border Declaration’, the organization declares itself to be taking political leadership of the new armed, which is then dubbed as the West Papua Army. Following the statement, ULMWP is calling for international and domestic support.
Wenda added that “Politically and militarily we are united now. The international community can now see without a doubt that we are ready to take over our country.” The statement of Benny Wenda and ULMWP sounded as though the organization had gained political support from West Papuans that they are the ultimate leaders of the region.
We understand that West Papua’s position as an Indonesian province has been disputed lately. Many have not come to the stage of mutually understanding the developing situation in the region, let alone establishing a resolution over the debatable past.
However, some people have decided to take that dispute aside and believe that real actions are the one that West Papua needs to keep developing and to prosper. Instead of making political statements, let alone a made up, irresponsible one, they stand up for bringing economic development, better education, and more accessible healthcare for West Papuans who, in fact, really need those services.
Evidence shows that both civil societies and local governments are working hands in hands to better their local communities to bring prosperity to the Native West Papuans. What can be highlighted are the government scholarship for West Papuan youth to study abroad and taste world-class education, and the coming of many volunteer teachers and health workers to West Papua helping provide free education and health services.
These people are the ones that have been in touch with the real situations in West Papua. They are determined to help the region because of their beliefs that West Papua has the rights to develop as any other areas in Indonesia. And to make that goal materialize, they will not let their hands be tied, so taking real actions become the only option they have, and they take whatever it takes to realize that.
In fact, for decades, West Papua has been led by Native West Papuans that in some cases have shown significant achievements such as increasing human development level of their areas. Native West Papuans have also been military leaders in the regions.
Meanwhile, organizations like the ULMWP and individuals like Benny Wenda that have been detached from the development in West Papua for long are now trying to create a negative image of the region through their deceptive statements.
Demand apologies
Of the rejection, the OPM-TPN clearly states that the organization accuses Benny Wenda and ULMWP is faking the support from the three armed rebel factions. Jeffery Bomanak, the head of OPM-TPN stipulates that his organization has not been part of ULMWP since 2017 anymore and never regard ULMWP as their leader. In his statement on July 1, 2019, Mr Jeffery states that the forming of the West Papua Army by ULMWP are lies and fabrication and thus they demand apologies from ULMWP and its leaders such as Benny Wenda and Jacob Rumbiak for their deceitful, misleading statement.
To this end, it can be inferred that ULMWP and its people are never a representative of any West Papuan rebel groups, let alone West Papuan civilians. The statement of the OPM-TPN has confirmed that they never regard Benny Wenda nor ULMPW as they patrons in their actions in fighting against the Indonesian government. It is also a fact that almost all Native West Papuans do not know nor recognize who Benny Wenda, Jacob Rumbiak and so forth are and what ULMWP is.
The Indonesian government representative has stated that they do not feel disturbed by the ULMWP’s statement. The Indonesian government is currently focusing on infrastructure development in the remote areas of West Papua in order to improve people’s welfare through better accesses. The grand goal of the development is to ensure the realization of social justice for all people to the remote areas of West Papua.
The developing West Papua
In the last decade, many parties, including the central and local governments, and people from various backgrounds both Native and non-native West Papuans, are committed to a comprehensive and multi-faceted policy in accelerating the development in West Papua, as an integral part of Indonesia.
In the past 4 years, for example, affirmative actions have been implemented to improve human development, economic growth, and infrastructure necessary to keep the region developing. Data shows that, human development index has increased annually in West Papua. In Papua province, for instance, the number has increased from 59.09 in 2017 to 60.06 in 2018 while in West Papua province, the number has increased from 62.99 in 2017 to 63.74.
West Papua has also enjoyed a significant decrease in poverty as well as remarkable economic growth. The number of the percentage of poor people has decreased to only 25 percent in 2018 which could be 90 percent ten years ago. The region’s economy grew around 7 percent, which is recorded higher than other islands, such as Sumatera, Kalimantan and Bali. Moreover, the current one-priced-fuel policy in West Papua has allowed West Papuans to enjoy much better access to more affordable transportation and logistic costs which to some extent help them pursue prosperity (National Statistics Agency, 2018).
It is unfortunate that the recent development and service improvement efforts in WestPapua have been hampered by the actions of the armed separatist groups. In this case, it is this armed group that has harmed the human rights of West Papuans to get an education, health services, decent living and other social services. Previously, the armed group committed an act of violence by massacring road and bridge workers, taking hostages, raping and persecuting teachers and medical personnel and also attacking government officials and law enforcement officials and others.
Some could still see that what Beny Wenda and ULMWP has done represents a struggle to fight for freedom and independence.
However, international media like ABC and the Guardian have also shown their doubts to Benny Wenda’s claim. This adds significantly to the notion of how weak and fabricated the West Papuan army unification claim is. Also, As we have seen how people have come with real actions in helping and ensuring West Papua and West Papuans to develop and prosper, in this context, we all understand that what individuals like Benny Wenda and organizations like the ULMWP and the armed groups have done is merely for political and publicity gains. What they have done is the one that has apparently deprived the West Papuans of their rights to enjoy a decent, safe and sound lives in the region. (*)
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