Meeting the Free Papua Movement in the Jungle.

Posted on by wanderer

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As with hitchhiking boats, it’s quite easy.

Wake up in the morning, follow some guys in a muddy, labyrinthine, flooded jungle track for almost 2h and you get to the “especial place” gathering.

How to get these people to show you the way is another story, but involves books 😀

Once you reach the nice gathering place you learn how Taro is cultivated: you take the plant, collect the roots (sweetpotato like, but thicker and drier), put the branches on the hole again, wait for 6 months, repeat. They also hunt opossums as meals, food is not a problem :).

Then the gathering, most of the people are old men. Everything starts with a prayer, then a summary of the news. Worryingly they think that by September the UN will vote for West Papua to be independent, UN will send troops to kick out the military and police troops and give them a brand new country.

 

Well, no, the world does not work that way, while all the same the world does work that way in their minds.

 

Being of valencian origin, catalan culture,  growing on the ashes (50 years after) of spanish civil war, failed coup attempt 4 years before I was born, ETA terrorism, West Sahara as an ex colony of spain recolonized by Morocco, and the current independence politics going on, thatbcomes handily when  grasping the settings anywhere else in a struggle of any kind.

From its complexities to its simplifications.

I’ll go for its simplifications as it’s simple, far enough, any other thing would be a book and not a blog post.

Shortly: West Papua colony of Netherlands, UN in the 60-70s wants all the “nations” to lose the colony status, the Indonesians want more land (as it was on any “nation” mind the last 500 years), Netherlands controlled Indonesia, it controls West Papua, So West Papua is indonesia, Indonesia controls it now. Locals no happy, struggle, killings, repression, attacks, more repression, hiding, paranoia and fear of the outside world getting in, shutting of information in and out, government afraid, indigenous ignorant and angry. And this is the “simplified”.

 

I’m told I’m the first foreigner to ever go there, the conflict runs since the 70s (68-69 all started escalating). That can give you an idea of how things are going. Basically as now no foreign press is allowed to roam freely in this part of the country, by law, and the police is really paranoid of that*. On the bright side the new president of Indonesia Jakowi, has said that that has to change, but so far it has not been legislated, nor enforced.

 

With the simplified context let’s go to the meeting. The info comes from one of the few  mid age members that has some basic English and access to the media that talks about West Papua, only one informant from highly biased sources*. On top of the UN September thing, other news of around West Papua, in Timika (city close to a huge mining company, freeport)  it seems that delegation of the FPM is being closed and many people on the streets protests. I’m shown a picture of women laying on the ground in front of the tyres of a military vehicle.  Other news of other detentions and incidents.

After the participants of the meeting and my guide insist that I “interview” them.

Highly exited I proceed with the task starting with the Capitan of the commando. Soon I realize that what I understand of interview and what they understand it’s quite different. Their understanding is ‘say whatever you want, accept it as truth, finish the speech’, my understanding was ‘ask whatever question you might have, push for the answer’.

It would be obvious to anyone that both are incompatible, it was plain for me too, I was to be used as a recording and distribution machine to the “outside world”, despite that I managed to extract 0, 1 or 2 answers per “interview”.

A dozen “interviews” happened, so I got some questions down the line, but far off from what I would have desired. I wanted to paint a board and clear picture of the situation there, but too much interrogation on my part was confronted with uneasiness, nervous looks to the others and rush to the next “interview” by my translator, where the next on the row will describe his/her position and number on the military branch and talk whatever he wanted to be said, usually repeating what was already spoken before… I don’t think they behaved that way out of fear or to hide something but more because of being highly unused to the situation.

 

On the simplified side what I got home is:

  • They are really angry at what the Indonesian military and police did and, to some point they felt, where still doing†. Murders, rapes, shootings (one woman sowed me a bullet wound in her palm of when she was a child) and detentions.
  • They are old and tired by the struggle and what that something magical will happen in September that will solve ALL their problems.
  • They feel left behind socially and economically by all the indonesian population living now in Papua.
  • They don’t mind fighting and dying again.
  • They are bond  and mind a lot religion.
  • One at least wouldn’t mind towing away all non Papuans the sooner the better.
  • Worst of all, they feel treated as stupid inferior beings by the Indonesians, whit no mere rights than mere slaves to bis disposed off.

Of all the points obviously the last one sets the reasons why colonialism was so terrible and why despite all the odds against people would risk their lives just to get out of that mentality, specially in a world that does not accept colonialism and slavery any more.

 

Food between the interviews, taro, vegetables, extremely sweet tea or coffee.

Showing of the “militiamen” armed with machetes and lances. History of the commando, old photos, hand made Flag rising, prayer. Many photos with me posing with different sections of the commando.

 

 

Curiously despite the opposition to the Indonesians all the meeting is held in Indonesian language even when everybody could understand the local language.

Also as I mentioned there are not many young people among the units, I’m told they are afraid to continue with the struggle, only those with family reasons join the fight.

 

 

On the evening  the sun sting behind the undulating jungle covered lands, the life now revolves around a fire. The hill huts pooping with their brown roofs out of the vegetation provide a resting place. Cooking, telling stories, having warm fire light under the precious shining stars spanning both hemispheres.

A world where life is bountiful and food and warmth is not something to worry about, where the nature is beautiful paradise by default everywhere you go, everywhere you look, where humans managed to put the same old mistakes in a brand oldy new environment.

The fact that I’m not more thrilled about the certainly unlike experience and environment is that I deeply realize how pointless, biased, short sighted and world apart this conflict is, it will take me days to partially overcome that feeling, I don’t think it will ever completely leave me.

It’s like the world does not realize this place exists, is like this place does not know the world exists. Is the world going over the same puzzles again and again and nobody even knows this piece has been created and forgotten in some place of the room?.

 

*I’ll be the living proof of that media being highly biased in a latter incident  (not that the media is not biased perse, but it can get worse, nor that it’s not understandable either).

† On a notice virtually every indigenous Papuan that i met in 1 month in West Papua lst a family member.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Papua Diaries, 31, Papua free movement demonstration, 8th detention

Posted on by wanderer

Oh well Let’s extend 2rd law of solo travelling to not go to demonstrations full of military escort. Well anything that military in some kind of operation. They military/police are rather susceptible and unwise.

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Wake up early and I go towards where my hitch yesterday told me a Papua free demonstration would take place, from the University to the center of the city, it shall be a 20km long march.

I walk to the place, it is full of police and military. I approach a roundabout and next to someone who I think is a reporter I try to take picture of the people gathered there,  but that guy grabs me, another others joins. They tell me that they are police, however the police standing few meters away, by the road does not move an inch.

At the end some of the military and police moves towards us, I thought they would deal with things, instead they grab me and force me to the police station. I get free of they grasp but I walk along them not to get into trouble. Probably the guy who whas taking pictures and first graved me was a plain clothes police.

On the way to the office innumerable other policemen take pictures of me. I smile :), later I will learn that they do so in order to sell them to the press…

What follows at the police office is the usual Indonesian interrogatory, be asked the same questions again and again by 15 different people in the room, is like they don’t hear what I already said. Odd, and starts to be frustrating after 2h. Also they take many pictures of the content of my pockets, over and over, and write several reports in parallel with their smartphone and by hand. Extremely efficient it seems…

The demonstration is organized by a student movement and the police tells me that reporters are not allowed by law. On addition they tell me that they will broke it down in few hours. It’s supposed to be a long march for freedom, from Abepura, where the university is, to Jayapura center, where the local government is.

The Papua Free movement commando that I met previously told me that despite the government is apparently officially allowing free press in papua, that’s not the case on the the grownd. I would dare to say that the old military elite from the military/police forces remaining from the dictatorship is still nervous about here. I’ll be confirm about that by the interrogation police guy next day.

Well it’s easy to understand. Almost everyone I met lost a close familiar and/or friend by their hands, if what the locals told me is true. Families being big it might explain why so many seem affected, but it still describes a brutal repression and murders and rapes well into the 21 century.

 

Anyway the police is deeply suspicious and is detaining me yet again (for few hours). It does not help that one guy is trying to see all my pictures, where the Papua free movement ones are. Luckily they are buried along thousands of others, but I must already  remove them from my camera. I’m a bit too careless.

My host is called (this time I learned from my last detention and I give his details), when he comes I’m bailed out. Coincidentally he works on the bank that is just in front of where the march that has not been allowed to progress is. Now is just a stand off that takes all day. I therefore can go to the upper floors of the bank and I can watch the demonstration without the police detaining me, good enough, but I would love to mingle there! ugggh, i so much would like to mingle in there and take amazing pictures. My consolation is that i can see it from above.

Quite cool, many people with painted faces wearing the west papua flag  and (un)dressed in the traditional way of Wamina (the highlands) with the kotekas, penis covers.

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The demonstration is small anyway, few thousands at best. Yeah not letting it progress only shows the nervousness of the establishment.

In fact, has any pacific demonstration ever changed something? usually is the crack down of those which start change, but the ones that come to my mind that have been pacific and allowed to progress, have done nothing, even if they where massive. Only when you start repression you are endangering yourself. I guess usually power is inherently self preserving stupid. That’s why it has changed hands so many times.

 

The clever one is self preserving but doesn’t change hands so often.

 

On last note, the police for some reason leaked my details to the press: name, university and what not. That’s how that picture at the beginning of the post happened to be and now is linked with my name, forever or as long google does it 😦

So worried all my life of my details going to the web without my complete supervision and masking and now I’m all over the press. It was translated to english, then catalan, spanish… my PhD supervisor and friends piked it at home. Great…

http://papuanews.id/2016/06/15/polisi-amankan-wna-ditengah-demo-knpb/

Spanish tourist arrested at demonstration in West Papua

http://www.vilaweb.cat/noticies/detenen-un-catala-en-una-manifestacio-a-favor-de-la-independencia-de-papua-occidental/

Btw the reports of my detention have been greatly exaggerated (paraphrasing Twain). Is not a “detention” per se and the headlines saying that thousands others where detained was a complete exaggeration, non was detained, only they where not allowed to advance on the long march, so it became a stand off demonstration.

Anyway as always and as everywhere press does its job in its own way, it has not changed in hundreds of years and I lived through the facts. I shall be happy to experience how the world really works, I don’t feel happy…

1st How to get to the interesting bit. Mountain bird head peninsula crossing, West Papua

Posted on by wanderer


From Sorog I hitchhiked my way asking to be drooped at Ayamaru first.

Be carefully, twice I did this way (the first for some tourism, to the lakes of the region of Aitinyo, see here a bit) and twice I was driven first to Tembubian, 50km to the south.

There is a road under construction to Ayamaru junction from there , but it adds 100km…

From Ayamaru then ask to go to Susumu, where the junction of the road that goes south to Bituni, and north to Manokwary is.

I would consider this the center of the peninsula as it links the 3 big cities, but it’s just a small scattered town, no good connections yet.

From Susumu the next big town north is Ayamasi, then the last town before the mountains is Konja.

This trek shall be around 50-60km from the junction (I went back and forward so I lost count). All around this road I would suggest to make your stop before attempting the mountains. The obvious place is Konja, as from there is only a 10-20min ride to the bridge that starts everything.

 

You can also directly ask for Manokwary road, you will get strange looks but it might work 😀

For accommodation don’t worry, walk around and somebody will offer, or your hitch, if you hitchhiked, will be more than exited to have you over. If not ask around politely and you will find a place and probably be fed. And of course if you bring your tent or hammock it’s always easy to find a roof in case it rains. Is not cold at all.

Well if you are attempting this craze I guess you already know that 🙂

I was invited to Kumurkek to sleep, south of Ayamasi, so on Sunday that nobody drives there and I had to walk my way quite a lot until the mountains. Still I got 3 rides, one special one in which half the small town of Man rode me to the bridge to enjoy the spectacle of a Buleh (westerner) walking alone up a 3km long 30% slope carting 15kg.

 

The road until there is good, with its bigger or smaller potholes to remind you where you are.

After that bridge what is the welcoming of the adventure. Thank you.

 

Next the interesting bit.