Transcript
A West Papuan theologian and activist says Papuan nationalist aspirations are a direct consequence of how the Indonesian state has treated his people.
Reverend Dr Benny Giay says West Papuans don't feel a part of Indonesian society, due to state policy towards them since the former Dutch New Guinea was incorporated into the republic in the 1960s.
He told Don Wiseman that when he looks back over five decades under Indonesian rule, there's been no progress in the situation.
BENNY GIAY: Even early 1960s, the Indonesian government started to position us Papuans as backwards, primitive and uncivilised. And then by making that claim, they positioned themselves as a civilised nation who had come to help us, to make us equal to other Indonesians. And thirdly, after they claimed the position as a civilised, superior nation, they formulate their own development policies and other ideologies. And that in the long run became the ideology that marginalises us Papuans. They still have that view up until now.
DON WISEMAN: As it is now, what does it mean for Papuans, after effectively - as you say - fifty years of being treated badly.
BG: By making that claim or taking that position towards us Papuans, they systematically excluded us Papuans socially and culturally to the point that we became objects of exploitation, objects of stigmitisation. So we Papuans feel that we are not part of Indonesian modern society. We have not been treated that way. And I think in the fifty years of interaction with Indonesians, that process gave birth to West Papuan nationalism. As a church leader, when we met Indonesian president SBY (Indonesia's Susilo Bambang Yudhyono) on 16th December 2011, we told him that what you Indonesians call separatists, from the point of view of history we call it Papuan nationalism. That is what Papuans think collectively up until now.
