Eduardus took me to his hometown in Kiunga. After changing public transportation twice, we walked under the scorching sun. Michael village is a slum area that is often flooded by swamp water.
By
AGUSTINUS WIBOWO
·5 minutes read
AGUSTINUS WIBOWO
AIDS warning sign in Kiunga, Papua New Guinea
I have been in Kiunga for two weeks, exploring the life stories of refugees from West Papua, Papuans from Indonesia who live in Papua New Guinea (PNG). However, my activities have given rise to some suspicion. I was once approached by a drunk man, who shouted at me in Indonesian, accusing me of being an Indonesian spy.
Pastor Masjon Kenedy, who is from Flores, told me, “Never mind you who have just arrived, even those of us who have worked with them for many years are still under suspicion.”
Pastor Masjon recalled a priest who once visited the West Papua refugee camp in Iowara to research on the lives of the refugees. Instead, he was treated as an enemy, his camera and computer confiscated and tampered with so that all the work he had done was in vain.
I needed the help of Indonesian pastor Eduardus Nenggen to introduce me to the refugees, so I could gain their trust. He is 66 years old and hails from the Tanahmerah area in Boven Digoel regency. He crossed the border in 1984 with his family and almost everyone in his village. In PNG, they set up residence in border villages such as Yogi, Dome and Komokpin.
“Why do you live on the border, when it is so difficult?” I asked.
"We have to stay here to keep the fight going. If this border becomes empty of our people, our struggle is over, and Papua will never be free.”
AGUSTINUS WIBOWO
Pastor Masjon Kenedy
Eduardus felt that he had devoted his whole life to this struggle for independence. However, as he thought about it over time, the situation in the organization had been becoming increasingly unclear. How was it possible to become independent if people remained stupid and backward?
Refugee children are not allowed to attend PNG schools.
"It is impossible for us to build a country with illiterate people. So, amid the struggle, education must continue,” said Eduardus, who has taught refugee children how to read and write since 1993.
In 1997, Eduardus relocated to the official UN refugee camp in Iowara so his son could go to school. Only in Iowara is there a school for refugee children. However, before they can enter the camp, refugees are required to sign an agreement that they would comply with the requirement “not to be involved, either directly or indirectly, in OPM [Free Papua Movement] activities, including holding military or civilian positions within the organization”.
The PNG government supports Indonesian sovereignty over Papua. "That is why in PNG, we are not allowed to express opinions about the Papuan independence movement," said Eduardus.
His soft and sure words contained no sadness as Eduardus spoke. “We have a ‘disease’ within us,” he said.
"Disease?" I asked.
“This is the disease all refugees suffer. Our disease is one: Freedom. We want independence like you!” he said, looking at me.
AGUSTINUS WIBOWO
Eduardus\' statement on entering the official UN refugee camp in Iowara
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Eduardus took me to his hometown in Kiunga. After changing public transportation twice, we walked under the scorching sun. Michael village is a slum area that is often flooded by swamp water.
Most of the people who live here are refugees, and they all greeted Eduardus respectfully in English or Malay. Whenever someone asked me who I was, Eduardus always replied, “He\'s Chinese,” or “He\'s Filipino.” He didn\'t say I was Indonesian, to protect me.
A younger man in a red T-shirt with the PNG flag on it, carrying a sling bag with the PNG flag on it, followed us on our journey. This young man took Eduardus and me to his house.
“According to the story of creation, black people are from the island of Papua, while white people are not from Papua. Black people have long been independent in nature, and we are self-reliant on plantations, axes, flint [to make fire], and so on. Then the white people came and destroyed our nature, inserted politics, colonized us. This is the story of all Melanesian peoples,” said the young man called Saferus Dedi.
Saferus once attended an event the Melanesian Council held in the city of Madang in 2004. Saferus performed a Papuan dance in front of the representatives of the Melanesian nation states of the South Pacific.
The struggle of the younger Papuan generation, said Saferus, was different from that of the previous generation. The older generation fought by taking up arms and many of them died on the way to the refugee camp, and then became victims when they arrived in PNG. "But we are the younger generation, we don\'t fight through violence, but through nature," he said. He then added in a low voice, “Humans are small, while nature reigns. Nature is God."
