By : Hafid Abbas
The 8th Chairperson of the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission
On October 21, 2024, after General (Ret) Prabowo Subianto was inaugurated as the 8th President of the Republic of Indonesia, he formed the Ministry of Human Rights and appointed Natalius Pigai, the son of Papua as Minister in his Red and White Cabinet.
Such policy reminds me to a similar historic decision made by President KH Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur), shortly after his election as the 4th President of the Republic of Indonesia on October 21, 1999, he also formed the Ministry of Human Rights and appointed Hasballah Saad, the son of Aceh, as Minister in his National Unity Cabinet. At that time, as the Vice Rector for Academic Affairs of Jakarta State University, I was also appointed by President Gus Dur as Deputy Minister at this ministry.
After a quarter of a century of the historic policy, the dynamics of Aceh Freedom Movement (GAM) have been resolved comprehensively through a peaceful dialogue in Helsinki between Indonesian Government and GAM. Meanwhile, the separatism movement of the Free Papua Organization (OPM) in Papua remains no end, although Aceh problem was obviously much more complicated.
Since the Helsinki Peace Accords for Aceh was successfully signed by both parties, Hamid Awaluddin representing Indonesian Government and Malik Mahmud from the GAM side, on August 15, 2005 in Helsinki, there have been no more drops of blood to wet the land of Aceh. Although previously, during the three decades of conflict (1975-2005), as reported by Amnesty International (2015) there were 2-3 victims who died every day either from the civilian population or from the military (TNI-Polri) or GAM.
Under such circumstances, suddenly on December 24, 2004, Aceh was greatly devastated by tsunami. The United Nations reported that some 240 thousand deaths, about half a million Acehnese lost their homes, and had a bad impact on the lives of 158 million other people spread across 14 countries that were also devastated by the tsunami (UN Press Release 14/07/2005).
In addition, it is estimated that Aceh’s economic losses are around USD 7.7 billion (ScienceDirect, 12/06/2021).
Under such condition, unexpectedly, GAM figures opened their minds to have a peaceful dialogue with Indonesian Government. On the initiative of Indonesia Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Aceh’s peaceful dialogue in Helsinki could be made. After a long dialogue process between the two parties, mediated by President Martti Ahtisaari, a peace agreement could be finally adopted. Three years later, in 2008, Ahtisaari won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in mediating the realization of peace.
Roads to a Peaceful Papua
As a lesson learned, since the adoption of Helsinki MoU, Aceh could gradually recover socially, economically, and politically to fully normal condition. If calculated, the MoU of almost two decades ago has indeed saved 14600-21900 lives, and prevented greater socio-economic losses if the conflict was to prolong.
To end decades of conflict in Papua, the following mechanisms could be made.
First, Indonesian Government and OPM could adopt the Helsinki MoU model by presenting an independent mediator from within or outside the country. The key elements of the Helsinki MoU included: Special Autonomy for Aceh: The Aceh region was granted a special autonomous status within Indonesia, with control over local government, security, and economic matters; Disarmament and Reintegration: The GAM agreed to disarm and reintegrate into the political process, while Indonesia pledged to respect Aceh’s autonomy; Human Rights Accountability: Both sides agreed to take steps toward addressing human rights violations committed during the conflict; Monitoring Mechanism: A Monitoring Mission, including international observers, was set up to ensure that both sides complied with the terms of the agreement. The Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM), which included representatives from the European Union, the United States, and other countries, monitored the disarmament process and the overall implementation of the peace agreement
Indonesian Government and OPM could take and readjust those key areas of common concerns to be discussed comprehensively during the expected peaceful negotiations to end decades of conflict in Papua.
Second, the new Indonesian Government under President Prabowo’s administration could likely remove international pressures to Papua if a number of UN recommendations could be addressed. In my capacity as the Head of the Indonesian Delegation at the 8th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) in New York, May 18-29, 2009, since then, I have observed that the UN have highlighted seriously various human rights issues in Papua and West Papua. On December 22, 2021, the UN Human Rights Council exposed various concerns to the Government of the Republic of Indonesia, such as:
“….We have received concerning the excessive use of force against indigenous Papuans in the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua. We have received allegations indicating several instances of extra-judicial killings, including of young children, enforced disappearance, torture and inhuman treatment and the forced displacement of at least 5,000 indigenous Papuans by security forces between April and November 2021.”
Therefore, the Government needs to build a more conducive communication with the UN by responding various issues that have been highlighted by the UN Special Rapporteurs and UN Experts related to forced disappearance, the Use of Excessive Violence, Torture, and Forced eviction; and, Internal Displacement of Indigenous Papuans (IDPs). At the website of the UN Human Rights Council, for example, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Papuan and West Papuan Indigenous Peoples, noted 33 issues of concern (ohchr.org/sites/ filesIPeoples/SR/). Likewise, the views of UN experts related to various realities and concerns in Papua were also published in UN Press Released (03/01/2022).
Third, President Prabowo’s administration and the new elected governors, mayors and head of districts across Papua could jointly prepare a new roadmap for a peaceful and prosperous Papua. The roadmaps could address: the issues of marginalization and discriminatory impact on indigenous Papuan people of economic development, political conflict; the failure of development issues, in particular in the field of education and health for indigenous Papuans and the failure to empower the people’s economy; the issues on the accountability resolutions for past state violence against Papuans, etc.
Under such circumstances, President Prabowo could appoint one of his coordinating ministers related to human rights affairs to set up and coordinate an inter-ministerial taskforce with the involvement of academe communities and civil society organizations to address those recurrent and contemporary socio-economic, political and security issues across Papua.
Lastly, President Prabowo has shown his impressive human rights policy to grant amnesty to OPM prisoners who have minor rebel cases in Papua (Press Release 13/12/2024). He will prioritize to grant amnesty to 18 inmates of unarmed violence acts as a reconciliation effort for Papuan people. This indicates the Government’s good intention to create a more peaceful situation and social stability in Papua.
Hopefully the prolonged conflict in Papua and West Papua can be resolved as soon as possible peacefully, thoroughly, sustainably and with dignity for all for the greatness of the Republic of Indonesia now and in the future.
