goodmorningpapua.com – This year, Papua Province has successfully held PON XX and PEPARNAS XVI in districts and cities, namely Jayapura Regency, Jayapura City, Mimika Regency and Merauke Regency.
Some people think that PON is a form of the Indonesian government’s commitment to develop Papua as well as to prove Papua’s ability to become an organizer and champion of the biggest sporting event in Indonesia. But can PON be a solution to end the chronic Papuan conflict?
In terms of empowering Papuan human resources, sports and the arts are two important fields where Papua has enormous potential. However, PON XX cannot be equated with conflict resolution itself, because to achieve this, hard work and concrete steps are still required to overcome the main source of problems in Papua/West Papua. For this reason, Papua requires an approach based on an understanding of its specific conditions.
First, Papua has very diverse tribes/customs. This fact does not merely exist in Indonesia, but also the only one in the world. Second, the dynamics of the Papuan conflict extends not only vertically, but also horizontally or communally, even in the natural resources sector which is contested by various interests.
Solutions alone are not enough, it requires the real action, especially to resolve the main root problems that are the source of conflict and dissatisfaction. A developed, safe and prosperous Papua must be jointly designed between the Center and Papua. One of the points contained in Presidential Instruction No. 9 of 2020 is regarding a dialogical approach.
To reach an effective solution, dialogue as a new approach must be consulted with Papua in order to get support. Dialogue that is only designed unilaterally will be programmatic and there will be no community participation.
Whereas in local democracy, the Papuan people already know how to solve problems through dialogue, where they respect the involvement of every member of the community in the dialogue process. To be adopted as a national model, it requires the involvement of anthropologists, especially those who understand Papuan ethnography.
Author: Dr. Adriana Elisabeth