Ending colonialism in West Papua

Indonesian students took action to apologize for Indonesia's colonialism in West Papua

Some people think that there is no racism against Papuans in Indonesia. As proof: there are Papuans in the government, military, police, etc.

In fact, to say this is no different from justifying the Dutch East Indies colonial regime in the last century. Some Indonesians held indeed important positions there. However, in those days, the social order was divided into three levels or castes:

1. Europeans, eurasians, and the indigenous elite (mainly indonesian sultans and nobles)

2. Foreign Asians, the majority of whom were Chinese, Arab and Indian merchants.

3. The Bumiputera: Javanese, Balinese, etc. who usually worked as farmers and manual laborers.

One question arises: 

What is its relevance to Indonesian colonialism in West Papua? (1963-present)

While it's true that Indonesian law recognizes the equality of all citizens, reality shows that the society in West Papua today is similar to that of Indonesia in Dutch colonial times. 

The current "Europeans, Eurasians and indigenous elites" are none other than the oligarchs, Indonesian politicians and some Papuan leaders involved with the Indonesian government.  

"Foreign Asians" are replaced by Indonesian migrants who massively arrive from Java, Sulawesi, and other islands. They migrate to improve their lives. 

In the end, the "Bumiputera" in Papua are none other than the indigenous papuan tribes. They become outcasts in their own country. 

In the past, Chinese and Arab traders received business facilities from the Dutch colonial government. Today, non-papuan indonesian entrepreneurs get easy business loans from Indonesian banks, while indigenous Papuans who own their land can hardly get them.

Just as in 1901, the Dutch East Indies government implemented ethical politics, in 2001, the Indonesian government implemented special autonomy in its Papuan provinces to cover up its colonial shame.

Since its independence, Indonesia has been very active to advocate decolonization for the third world countries. Today, under Jokowi's presidency, Indonesia is a vocal supporter of Palestinian independence. Recently, Mr. Prabowo, Indonesia's security minister, proposed a referendum as a solution to the conflict in Ukraine. 

But why aren't these brilliant ideas applied to West Papua? And yet, for more than sixty years, the Papuan people have been consistently demanding independence from Indonesia through a fair referendum.