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JURIST Guest Columnist Dimas Kuncoro Jati, of Gadjah Mada University, discusses the separatist movement in the West Papua and estimates its chances of exercising secession from Indonesia under the Kosovo scenario …
West Papua separatists are allegedly trying to seek international community attention by arranging a new strategy to compose a strong and well-grounded claim to secede from Indonesia. They are aware that the world does not turn its eyes and get sympathy for them if they are not supported by unbeatable reason to become an independent state. Just google “West Papua Independence” related-topics and you will hit on expositions of human rights violations, suppression policies by the government, discrimination and indications that all arrangements and negotiations aiming to resolve and placate the conflicts must be abandoned. The main point is trying to convince the readers that Indonesian policymakers have failed to “indonesianize” Papua.
The recent incident of fire-raising Mosque in Tolikara—if confirmed to be fueled by the separatist splinter—can be regarded as a signal for the government to see how internationalization of the Papua issue really matters. Unsurprisingly, those examples in international law recently have been acknowledged as the criteria to secede based on the Remedial Secession Doctrine [PDF]. It argues that a certain category of people is able to separate from the sovereign state in the event of gross and systematic violations of human rights and instances of discrimination, subject to exhaustion of local and international remedies to resolve the conflicts. This motive has shown its patterns by attempting to tailor the West Papua case as another Kosovo or any other country that is deemed to have become independent because it was exercising its right to secede protected under the international law.
History has noted that separations of an entity from a sovereign state have never ended in a single result. The results are always unpredictable. There are several entities who fight to secede from their “parent” states but have presently ended unsuccessfully, such as Abkhazia, Chechnya, Bhiafra, Congo, Angola, Bogainville and others. On the other hand, there are also entities who struggle and successfully become an independent state, such as Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.
There are shades of grey in the legal certainty regarding the doctrine, which has made separatism in West Papua vulnerable. Indonesian policymakers are challenged to undertake preventive measures to anticipate this West Papua separatists’ strategic surprise. The sole method to accomplish this goal is to bring the case in international law perspective. David Raic and John Dugard have discovered patterns or criteria to determine whether such people have the right to secede from their parent state.
First, the people must be a minority. Papua and West Papua provinces have been given special autonomy through the Special Autonomy Act 2001. Given this fact, whether a group in West Papua is a minority is not simply determinated by the calculated result of inferiority, but it is based on the government’s alternative policies towards the population, which is changed from aggressive military approach to more fruitful and more humanizing focus with an autonomy framework. Hence, West Papua has met the inferiority element of being a minority and therefore has complied with the first requirement of the right to secede.
Second, it is systematical discrimination. Article 2 of Special Autonomy Act on Papua mentions: “the establishment of The People of Papua Assembly (MRP) which constitutes representation of Papua’s indigenous people possessing certain authorities toward the protection of Papua‟s indigenous people …”
MRP has been granted broad authority to represent Papua’s rights of indigenous people. Such authority inter alia includes giving consideration on approval of candidates of Governor and Vice Governor, who have previously been proposed by the House of Papua‟s Legislative (DPRP), giving consideration and approval of the Special Autonomy Act’s plan. In addition, the broad autonomy is enhanced by the statutory requirement that only an indigenous Papuan can be a Governor and a Vice Governor. These liberties do not simply prevent the people from being discriminated against, but also give priority as to who can be involved in public affairs.
Third, we must use Executive Investigation Report by Indonesia’s Commission of Human Rights as guidance to establish the likelihood of human rights violations. Investigators implied that there is sufficient preliminary evidence of a gross violation of human rights in Wasior, Wamena and Abepura. These violations include embellishment, deprivation of liberty, tortures, rape and forced disappearance of civil population. Because the activities occurred widely and systematically, they can be categorized as crimes against humanity.
However, such tragedies are not able to lead to the birth of a right to secede. International law strictly obligates states under erga omnes to put perpetrators of international law to justice and to embody such attempt in order to return to peaceful conditions (Restitutio in Integrum). Normally, the duty is embodied in prosecuting the violators of such severe crimes in Human Rights Court and by establishing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and other task forces.
Last element is the exhaustion of peaceful arrangements and remedies. Domestically, this conflict can still be resolved peacefully through legal settlement by bringing an action against the perpetrators in Wamena, Wasior and Abepura in Human Rights Court. Although highly sensitive, this is a necessary step, because a court’s judgment will demonstrate to both the perpetrators and the victims that in no circumstances should these atrocities happen ever again. The justice by the court will eventually give the sense of security, comfort, serenity and harmony to Papua.
Meanwhile in the context of non-legal arrangements, Indonesia has been arranging several initiatives. The first and foremost one is through Special Autonomy. The second one is establishing the Human Rights Court and Truth and Reconciliation Commission under the mandate from the Special Autonomy Act, which will be a branch office of the National Commission of Human Rights National aimed to bring peace, justice and truth in Papua. Third one is through fully institutionalizing the Acceleration of Papua and West Papua Development Unit (UP4B), which is used to support the coordination, synchronization, facilitation and control of the development in Papua and West Papua. The last initiative is through peaceful dialogue between central and regional government, including DPRP, MRP and the Papua Adat Council. With this consistent relation on bridging Jakarta-Papua, the concerned-stakeholders and parties will hold open dialogue to find a solution to the autonomy’s obstacles. Alternatively, it can lead to the conclusion that West Papua is not meeting all the above requirements and therefore is not entitled to the right to secede.
Although Kosovo has completed all these requirements to exercise their right to secede, it does not mean that the birth of Kosovo is the template to exercise the right to secede. Secession matters of fact are not always governed by legal logic. Factors like geopolitics, national identity, national interests of other states, concern for maintaining regional peace and security often intertwine with each other. It has been predominantly concerted that there is no single explanation and cause of secession, including law. This legal perspective is the common ground which especially for the every separatist splinter in the earth delicate to be digested and accepted, yet it is highly important to understand how the world works.
Dimas Kuncoro Jati is a Research Assistant at Department of International Law, Gadjah Mada University. Mr. Jati is a Member of Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia. He obtained his bachelor law degree from Gadjah Mada University.
Suggested citation: Dimas Kuncoro Jati, Framing Internationalization of West Papua issues as another Kosovo’s independence , JURIST – Hotline, Aug. 26, 2015, http://jurist.org/hotline/2015/08/Dimas-Jati-Framing-Internationlization-West Papua.php
This article was prepared for publication by Yuxin Jiang, an Assistant Editor for JURIST Commentary service. Please direct any questions or comments to her at commentary@jurist.org