Citizen Media and Civil Resistance in West Papua
ENDANGERED JOURNALISTS
and Maluku. In this context the idea of Papua as a Land of Peace with its goal of
peaceful dialogue began to take shape. The Papua Land of Peace campaign creat-
ed a dilemma for the military. Would the military speak out against the campaign
and risk signalling their resistance to peace in Papua as well as alienating one of
the most respected constituencies in Papuan society, religious leaders; or would
they support the concept of Papua being a Land of Peace and thereby undermine
their ability to ferment militia activities? Although TNI military commanders in
Papua emphasised that there was no need for the campaign because there was al-
ready peace in Papua, the campaign most likely played an important role in con-
straining more covert militia operations. By mid to late 2000, reports of militia
activity virtually ceased and by late 2002 Laskar Jihad was officially disbanded.
While rumours of other Muslim and nationalist militias continued, their activities
were low level, confined to training and meetings, and never reached the peak
of the early 2000s. On the side of the pro-independence movement there were
changes as well. Papuan guerrillas stood down and for several years publicly
committed to giving space for peaceful dialogue to work.
However, the opportunity for peace talks was squandered. Jakarta rebuffed
overtures by political and religious leaders in West Papua and simply refused
to talk unless the question of West Papua's political status and future was taken
off the agenda. In the meantime, direct violence, economic exploitation and
marginalisation, alienation from traditional lands, cultural dislocation, plus a
steady stream of mass migration from other parts of Indonesia combined with
institutional racism was giving rise to a discourse of 'slow motion genocide'.
Papuan activists across the political spectrum from religious to resistance leaders
still talked about the desire for political dialogue with Jakarta. But they were
no longer talking about Papua as a Land of Peace. Instead they used the phrase
'Papua, Zone of Emergency' (Papua Zona Darurat). By 2008/9 the Papua Land
of Peace campaign was essentially over.
Non-cooperation spreads to state institutions
Special Autonomy was also losing the little lustre it had. The newly formed
Council of Customary Chiefs, the Dewan Adat Papua, organised a large mo-
bilisation of 10,000 to 15,000 people to march with a coffin marked ‘Otsus'-
the Indonesian language contraction for Special, Khusus, and Autonomy, Oto-
nomi―through the streets of Jayapura to the Provincial Parliament Building.
While the demonstration laid the symbol of the death of Otsus at the door of the
Provincial Parliament, the protesters's demands were mainly centred on exter-
nal targets. The international community was a key focus.
Mass demonstrations against Special Autonomy resumed again in 2010.
This time the protest was led by members of the Majelis Rakyat Papua (Papuan
People's Assembly), a kind of indigenous senate, assisted by youth leaders
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