Featured in the 2023 AIFIS-MSU Conference on Indonesian Studies, this special panel “Old, Broken, and New Promises: The Dilemmas of Kebangsaan in West Papua” will bring together a group of engaged scholars and movement leaders to discuss the ways in which Indonesian nationalism articulates with West Papuan lives and sovereignty.
The session will feature invited speakers;
Camellia Webb-Gannon (University of Wollongong Australia)
Ronny Kareni (Rize of the Morning Star)
Hatib Kadir (Universitas Brawijaya)
Jenny Munro (University of Queensland)
Elvira Rumkabu (Universitas Cenderawasih)
Moderated by Timothy Daniels (Hofstra University).
Abstract: Participants on this special roundtable panel will focus on the dilemmas of Indonesian nationalism as it articulates with West Papuan lives and sovereignty. We acknowledge that the Indonesian nation-state has made promises of development and inclusion of West Papuans in the imagined national kebangsaan. However, these state projects have had a detrimental impact on the lives, resources, and environment of West Papua. They have led to deprivation, land dispossession, deforestation, and environmental hazards. In addition, state efforts at urban infrastructure and human resource development have also produced negative consequences. Dominant sociopolitical policies fragment West Papua into numerous provinces and smaller political units. On the other hand, participants draw on their fieldwork to demonstrate new and renewed promises Papuans are making through their own efforts and creativity. Some of these “practices of sovereignty” are new, while others are longstanding and only recently noticed and documented. Are these sovereignty practices possibly preparing the ground for the emergence and recognition of an independent West Papuan state? Do Papuan promises for Merdeka offer a resolution of the dilemmas of the Indonesian present? Rather than current resource exploitation and militia-driven ethnic hostilities, Papuan pro-independence forces promise a “Green State” and peaceful coexistence between Indigenous Papuans and migrants. Rather than political fragmentation under an autocratic, militaristic regime, Papuan groups promise a federal government of tribes with democratic governance. Moreover, they promise better lives for women, including freedom from all forms of violence. Are these untested political pledges being enacted and substantiated in current sovereignty practices? Participants will discuss these dilemmas and promises shedding light on how they have shifted over time as well as potential solutions.