I Believe in Indonesia

This article refers to the Jakarta Post opinion on June 17th 2014, “Prabowo or Jokowi for the Jakarta-Papua dialogue?”

I believe in Indonesia, so either Prabowo or Jokowi, Papua must remain in Indonesia. History has taught us, there were no succeeded separatism in the world, but the result is obvious neither the country torn apart nor the people who live within will suffer from dictatorship system or status trouble. Even in separatism’s success story like Quebec, Canada. In 1995 referendum of Quebec’s separatist, 60% of Yes voters believed they would keep Canadian citizenship. Quebeckers believed their status as Canadian is more comfy than as Quebeckers internationally.

As in Papua, the dialogue Jakarta-Papua believed as a path to Papua’s referendum to its independence. When Habibie took the presidency, 100 invitees, called to Habibie that the problem of Papuan were not only the failure of its development, but more about its status as an independence nation since December 1st 1961. They believed (or the Dutch colonialism made them believe) their own independence was made by Dutch conspirators in order to regain its power over Papua after the UNTEA process. Furthermore, the independence of Papua in 1961 was the hidden agenda of Dutch colonialism as known as the day of the establishment of Dutch colony not Papuan independence.

And historically, when Indonesian proclaimed its independence in August 17th 1945, the government has claimed all the former Dutch colonies into Indonesia territory and hereinafter the first President of the Republic of Indonesia had appointed Mr. Zainal Abidin Syah as the First Governor of West Papua.

In doing so, according to the facts as mentioned above, I hope whether Prabowo or Jokowi who will took the next presidency would not forgetting the real roots of Papua and Indonesia history, not just believed in rubbish propaganda that tried to blur the history.

Rafli Hasan