Why Highlands Play Politics Better Than Coastal Leaders

I’m a coastal man, and this picture says everything about politics in Papua New Guinea. Politics is not about friendship or hate. It’s a game. A serious one. And the truth is, some people understand that game better than others.

Highlands leaders know how to play politics better than most coastal leaders. That’s why they stay in power. While coastal leaders are still thinking with emotions, others are making smart moves behind the scenes. In politics, thinking emotionally is the fastest way to lose.

Many people believe that James Marape and Peter O'Neill are enemies. That’s what the public sees. But politics is deeper than that. Leaders can fight today and work together tomorrow. There are no permanent enemies and no permanent friends. Nothing is personal. It’s just politics.

Coastal leaders often get played because they trust too easily or take things personally. Meanwhile, others are calculating every move. They build alliances, break them, and rebuild again when it suits them. That’s how the game is won.

As Rainbo Paita said, Parliament is more complicated than physics. And he’s right. Politics is not simple. It’s a game for strong minds, not soft hearts.

So here’s the hard truth, if you don’t understand the game, don’t enter politics. Because while you’re trying to be honest and emotional, someone else is already ten steps ahead, playing to win.

By The Hardest Pills to Swallow

This is not meant to attack any individual or group, but to share a perspective on how politics works.

The most intelligent highlands politicians are from Simbu when it comes to the real art of the game, like Sir iambake Okuk, Komdom Agaundo, Kerenga Kua James Nomane etc. The upper highlanders are dominant in the power play only with the use of money and nepotism, they are only good in using money and maintaining their wantoks system to find their way out,  but they don't have the brain to play the game on a neutral ground. Simbus don't play money or use their wantoks systems in politics. If a Simbu politician plays money and use wantoks system or if the game is played by all on a neutral ground, Simbu's will be victorious. I'm a coastal man and this is my simple view.

Refleksi Paskah Jumat Agung 18 April 2025: PASKAH DAN GERAKAN HAK POLITIK PAPUA BARAT MERDEKA

"Apakah ada ruang untuk bersuara Papua Barat Merdeka dalam momentum perayaan Paskah Kematian dan Kebangkitan Yesus di mimbar-mimbar Gereja?"

Oleh Gembala Dr. A.G. Socratez Yoman

Maaf, saya tidak campur aduk Gereja dan politik. Saya sampaikan tugas Gereja dan suara profetis/kenabian yang holistik atau utuh. Lihatlah dan dukunglah umat Tuhan dengan utuh sebagai gambar Allah, yaitu yang NKRI dan Papua Barat Merdeka. Mereka sama-sama umat Tuhan yang punya pergumulan dan ideologi yang berbeda yang datang sama-sama kepada Tuhan di gereja-gereja. Dari mimbar gereja lihat mereka dan doakan NKRI dan Papua Barat merdeka. Begitu saja kok takut!

Para pemimpin Gereja, pendeta dan gembala berbicara tentang Penderitaan Kristus dengan teori di mimbar-mimbar  setiap tahun tanpa memikul penderitaan umat Tuhan, yaitu rakyat dan bangsa Papua Barat. Artinya, gereja tidak atau belum banyak berbicara tentang penderitaan, kegelisahan, kesusahan dan tangisan umat Tuhan di atas Tanah ini.

Para pemimpin gereja, pendeta dan gembala selalu menghibur diri dengan tumpukan ayat-ayat Firman Allah atau Alkitab di mimbar-mimbar gereja, bahkan hafal ayat-ayat dengan baik-baik dan dengan lancar dibicarakan. Firman Tuhan dan ayat-ayat itu tidak pernah mendarat  di tanah yang subur dan itu seperti  berbicara di ruang-ruang kosong.

Kematian dan Kebangkitan Yesus Kristus, kasih, kebenaran, keadilan, kejujuran, keselamatan dan kedamaian selalu dikhotbahkan berulang-ulang, dengan lagu-lagu yang merdu dan doa-doa yang hebat dari tahun ke tahun, tapi itu disampaikan dalam ruang kosong tanpa menjawab dinamika dunia realitas, terutama dalam konteks kehidupan Penduduk Orang Asli Papua (POAP).

Dalam Gereja, para pemimpin gereja, pendeta dan gembala adalah manusia-manusia yang ikut melestarikan dan memelihara penderitaan rakyat dan bangsa Papua Barat dengan menggunakan ayat-ayat Firman Tuhan yang membuat para penjahat rasa nyaman dan terus melakukan kejahatan.

Dalam konteks  Papua Barat pemimpin gereja, pendeta, gembala mempunyai keyakinan teologi Gereja dan teologi Negara dan benar-benar belum faham teologi profetis.

Untuk membebaskan umat Tuhan dari penderitaan panjang ini,  gereja-gereja di Papua harus membangun teologi profetis berdasarkan Firman Tuhan.

Umat Tuhan di Papua Barat tidak bisa digembalakan terus-menerus dengan teologi gereja dan teologi negara yang menindas bangsa Papua Barat.

Umat Tuhan di Tanah Papua Barat dari Sorong-Merauke pikul salib penderitaan bersama Tuhan Yesus Kristus sejak 19 Desember 1961 sampai saat ini tahun 2025. Penderitaan itu dibuat oleh penguasa Indonesia yang berkarakter Iblis.
Kuasa Iblis,  kuasa dosa dan rantai-rantai  Setan atau Iblis yang membelenggu, membebani dan menindas umat Tuhan seperti peristiwa Trikora 19 Desember 1961,  Perjanjian New York 15 Agustus 1962,  hari awal malapetaka 1 Mei 1963,  manipulasi dan konspirasi jahat Pepera 14 Juli -2 Agustus 1969 yang dimengkan ABRI dengan moncong senjata, pelanggaran HAM berat, label dan stigma sosial dan politik seperti:  separatis, makar, opm, kkb,  monyet, dan teroris HARUS diperbaiki dan dilawan dengan tegas, tegak luhur, tanpa kompromi  berdasarkan kuasa otoritas Allah, Yesus Kristus dan Roh Kudus.

Rakyat dan bangsa Papua Barat yang disebut Gereja  atau umat Tuhan tidak membutuhkan khotbah panjang lebar dengan tumpukan ayat-ayat Alkitab, Firman Tuhan. Umat Tuhan, rakyat dan bangsa Papua Barat membutuhkan perbuatan yang nyata bukan kata-kata. Umat Tuhan membutuhkan suara kenabian untuk menyatakan kebenaran untuk memperbaiki proses politik dan sejarah pengintegrasian yang salah dengan Terang Injil adalah kekuatan Allah.

"Segala tulisan yang diilhamkan Allah memang bermanfaat untuk mengajar, untuk menyatakan kesalahan, untuk memperbaiki kelakukan dan untuk mendidik orang dalam kebenaran" (2 Timotius 3:16).

Gereja mempunyai otoritas Ilahi, kuasa Ilahi, dan berkat Ilahi yang menjadi dasar dan pedoman yang dipegang oleh para pendeta dan gembala.

"Roh Tuhan ada pada-Ku, oleh sebab Ia telah mengurapi Aku, untuk menyampaikan kabar baik kepada orang-orang miskin; dan Ia telah mengutus Aku untuk memberitakan pembebasan kepada orang-orang tawanan, dan penglihatan bagi orang-orang buta, untuk membebaskan orang-orang yang tertindas..." (Lukas 4:18-19).

Berdasarkan kuasa dan mandat Roh Tuhan, para Gembala menentang dan melawan pemerintah yang berwatak pencuri dan perampok dan pembunuh.

Yesus berkata:  "Pencuri datang hanya untuk mencuri dan membunuh dan membinasakan; Aku datang supaya mereka mempunyai hidup, dan mempunyainya dalam segala kelimpahan." (Yohanes 10:10).

Para pemimpin Gereja, pendeta dan gembala yang benar berdiri dan rela berkorban dan mati untuk rakyat yang dianiaya selalu melangkah dan melayani tanpa lelah dengan kasih yang tulus, murni dan kerendahan hati.

"Akulah gembala yang baik. Gembala yang baik memberikan nyawanya bagi domba-dombanya; sedangkan seorang upahan yang bukan gembala, dan yang bukan pemilik domba-domba itu sendiri, ketika melihat serigala datang, meninggalkan domba-domba itu lalu lari, sehingga serigala itu menerkam dan mencerai-beraikan domba-domba itu." (Yohanes 10:11-12).

Para pemimpin gereja, pendeta dan gembala memegang teguh pada tugas yang diberikan oleh Yesus Kristus untuk menggembalakan, menjaga, memelihara dan melindungi umat Tuhan dari para penjahat, pencuri, pembunuh dan perampok.
Tuhan Yesus memberikan kuasa dan mandat kepada pemimpin gereja dan gembala. "Gembalakanlah domba-domba-Ku". ( Yohanes 21:15-19).

Rakyat dan bangsa West Papua punya hak hidup, hak politik untuk berdiri di kaki sendiri di atas tanah leluhur mereka. Perlakukan yang kejam, brutal, penangkapan, penculikan, penyiksaan, pembunuhan dan pemusnahan yang dilakukan pemerintah Indonesia melawan hukum TUHAN. Pelanggaran berat HAM selama 63 tahun harus diungkap demi rasa keadilan dan perdamaian.

Dalam keadaan yang sukar dan sulit yang dihadapi dan dialami umat Tuhan, para pemimpin gereja, pendeta dan gembala hadir dengan kayakinan teguh, kuat dan kokoh, bahwa "Segala perkara dapat kutanggung di dalam Dia yang memberi kekuatan kepadaku" (Filipi 4:13).

Dalam hidup para pemimpin gereja, pendeta dan gembala  dengan setia mendoakan dan memberkati umat Tuhan yang mempertahankan NKRI harga mati dan mendoakan juga para pejuang Papua Barat merdeka seperti ULMWP, TPNPB dan KNPB. Karena yang mempertahankan NKRI dan yang berjuang Papua Barat merdeka. Mereka semua adalah sama-sama umat Tuhan dan sama-sama anggota gereja yang memperjuangkan hak-hak mereka. Gereja harus hargai mereka.

Para pemimpin gereja  berdiri dengan suara profetis dan dengan tegas mengatakan di Tanah ini tidak ada opm, kkb, separatis, makar, monyet, kkb dan teroris. Gereja menghargai dan menghormati manusia pemilik tanah dan negeri ini, atau tuan besar atas Tanah ini.  Gereja dan Pemerintah hanya tamu dan pendatang.

Saya berkeyakinan, Tuhan Allah tidak melarang West Papua Merdeka. Alkitab tidak melarang West Papua Merdeka. Gereja tidak melarang West Papua Merdeka. Karena kemerdekaan dan kedaulatan setiap manusia itu hakiki dan yang fundamental sebagai pemberian TUHAN.
Yang dilarang TUHAN, yang dilarang Alkitab, Kitab Suci, yang dilarang gereja teologi profetis ialah "Jangan membunuh umat Tuhan" (Keluaran 20:13).

Semua kesalahan proses politik dan sejarah  penggabungan Papua Barat ke
dalam Indonesia dan kejahatan negara harus dan mutlak diperbaiki dari mimbar-mimbar Gereja dengan  kuasa Firman Allah, Terang Injil Yesus Kristus adalah kekuatan Allah yang menyatakan kebenaran dan menyelamatkan umat manusia (Roma 1:16-17).
Tuhan Yesus memberkati  dan Selamat Paskah yang berjuang NKRI harga mati dan Papua Barat Merdeka harga mati.
Ita Wakhu Purom, Jumat, 18 April 2025
Yang menyampaikan Refleksi:
1. Presiden Persekutuan Gereja-gereja Baptis West Papua;
2. Pendiri, Pengurus dan Anggota Dewan Gereja Papua Barat (WPCC)
3. Anggota Konferensi Gereja-gereja Pasifik (PCC)
4. Anggota Aliansi Baptis Dunia (BWA).
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Kontak: 08124888458

Special autonomy for Papua: The trickery of Jakarta's policy

For the last 20 years the 2001 Papua Special Autonomy Law has provided a cover for the expansion of a form of "guided democracy''. With the House of Representatives' unanimous decision to pass the revision of the law on July 15, the last vestige of “local autonomy” has now been removed. President Joko "Jokowi'' Widodo’s government reportedly made a swift decision, accepting the recommendations of the Home Ministry and a special state-sanctioned committee's amendment to the law, causing outrage among indigenous Papuans. This is part of a revisionist history that overlooks the structural violence, systemic racism and unjust laws that abhorrently distort any notion of democracy in Papua. These changes were instituted without consent of the Papuans. Article 77 of the 2001 Papua Special Autonomy Law stipulate…

This article was published in thejakartapost.com with the title "Special autonomy for Papua: The trickery of Jakarta's policy". Click to read: https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2021/09/10/special-autonomy-for-papua-the-trickery-of-jakartas-policy.html.

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Vanuatu Prime Minister reminds MGS Leaders of Grouping’s stand for free Melanesia

By Jonas Cullwick
Prime Minister Moana Carcasses kept his Government’s promise to the people of Vanuatu to make a strong stand for self-determination for the people of West Papua and the Kanaks of New Caledonia at this year’s Leaders’ Summit of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

The Vanuatu PM and his delegation must be congratulated by the people of the country for the bold effort taken in the face of the MSG leadership that was seemingly divided on this position by issues including trade and geographical interests.

In a statement at the plenary session of the MSG Leaders’ Summit in Noumea, New Caledonia last week, Prime Minister Carcasses reminded the session of the words of co-founding father of the MSG, Vanuatu’s very own Fr. Walter Lini, the first Prime Minister of country, who said “Vanuatu will not be fully free until all Melanesian are free.”

Last week’s MSG Summit had noted the application by the West Papua Coalition for National Liberation (WPCNL) seeking membership of the MSG. And Carcasses, in his statement, acknowledged the outgoing Chair, Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama “for his great understanding in allowing the issue of West Papua to finally earn its rightful place” in the agenda of the MSG Summit.

He also expressed his gratitude to the host of the Summit, the FLNKS of New Caledonia for inviting the West Papua Coalition of National Liberation to the Summit, calling it “a huge landmark achievement”, and he appealed to the sub-regional grouping to “maintain the momentum in a mature and respectful manner.”

“Mr. Chairman, we are aware of the concerns of West Papuans, who long for a day when they as Melanesians, could achieve self-determination. But also Dear Colleague Leaders and Friends, we are aware of the human rights violations and atrocities being committed against West Papuans as a people in their motherland,” Carcasses said.

He called for an end to the abuse of human rights and urged that any continuation of abuse of human rights should be immediately brought to the attention of the international community.

“I raise these serious concerns on this issue with great humility for a very important reason. And this is that we have strong respective political and economic relations with Indonesia and this relation at a bilateral level for us in Vanuatu is indeed an important one,” Carcasses said.

He explained how each of the MSG member countries treasured their relationship with Indonesia and wished to see this strengthen into maturity, and how as a result of this collective respect for Indonesia as a friend, Indonesia was accepted as an observer in the MSG.

“I believe that as a friend in Melanesia, important issues could be discussed without diluting our collective determination to see the West Papuans granted their right for self-determination someday,” he referred to the relations with Indonesia.

Then the Vanuatu Prime Minister stressed the one important premise on which the application for membership by West Papua was done, and this is that “they are undeniably Melanesians” in blood and physic just like all members of the Melanesian sub-region.

“So, as Melanesians we cannot pretend to turn a blind eye on this natural identity and imagine that this avoidance is perfectly acceptable. So, as Melanesians we, our people and our land must not be occupied or colonized.

“We cannot have wool pulled over our faces and pretend that we are fine when those who are free know that the spirit within us desperately longs for freedom. The fire and desire for freedom and the enjoyment of the fruits of freedom has proven time and again throughout history that people’s voices, aspirations and dreams generate a society that is stable, healthy, educated and wealthy,” Carcasses continued.

He said that the cries of the people of West Papua for freedom have been bluntly denied by many rich and wealthy countries, including the United Nations for many decades, in spite of many rich discussions on good governance.

“So, I say that we as brothers must stand for them. That is to say that the epicenter of support for the advocacy for West Papuan Self-Determination must begin in this region, the Melanesia. And from here it could spread to other foreign lands.

“The world must know our unwavering support for the colonized people just like we did for the Kanaky people and the French Polynesia who are now finally listed in the Decolonization list,” he said.

Carcasses reminded the Summit of the preamble of the constitution of the MSG, which he said is very clear on the determination of the Group to promote the values, traditions and the inalienable rights of all Melanesians. And that the Constitution is a guiding principle to which the Group’s decisions and actions must mirror.

He went on to highlight the reason why he spoke on this issue. He said he echoed the voices of the people of the Republic of Vanuatu who fought for their freedom because it was their right to be free and they earned it 32 years ago. And he thanked God for this gift of freedom.

The Vanuatu Prime Minister appealed to the people of Melanesia to support the people of New Caledonia in the upcoming referendum. And he pledged the support of the Vanuatu people to the New Caledonia people for the upcoming referendum.

“Mr. Chairman, we the raison d’etre of this noble organization was because of the strong determination by our leaders for the colonized peoples of this country to walk free from colonialism someday.

“Nevertheless, 25 years after that promise, we are still here with the FLNKS to show solidarity and to renew our commitment and assurances that their objective for independence will be achieved one day.”

He then appealed to the people of New Caledonia to unite so that one day they can sit around the MSG table no longer as a political party group but as a Sovereign nation of the Kanaky people.

Dominant Discourses of Power Relations and the Melanesian Other: Interpreting the Eroticized, Effeminizing Gaze in National Geographic

ACADEMIC JOURNAL ARTICLE
By Hyndman, David; Naithani, Sadhana; Stone, Janferie
Cultural Analysis , Vol. 1

Article excerpt

The effeminate and sensual idealization of the Melanesian Other stems from National Geographic's gaze, which in turn is broadly linked to themes in Western cultural history. Race and geopolitics become organizing backdrops for narratives told about the Melanesian Other, and exemplify the "noble savage" theme as fetish. To travel in space is to travel in time. The fantasmagoric presentation of nude Melanesian men and women is for the consumption of Western white reader's back home. Immoderate sexuality and the uncontained body of black savage's poses a tangible threat to Western male viability in Melanesia. Mourning the passing of traditional Melanesian society and imperialist nostalgia makes racial discrimination appear innocent and pure in National Geographic, which masks the West's involvement with processes of domination. It is an eroticized, effeminizing gaze that reestablishes existing power relations in the imperialist scheme.

REPRESENTATION OF THE MELANESIAN OTHER

Reading National Geographic by Catherine Lutz and Jane Collins (1993) is an evocative portrayal of a "world brightly different" (Lutz and Collins 1993:87). According to Lutz and Collins, National Geographic has devoted 35% of its coverage to Asia, 22% to Latin America, 15% to the Middle East and North Africa, 12% each to Africa and the Pacific, and 6 % to Polar regions (120). As an anthropologist whose focus is Melanesia, I was intrigued to learn that photographic representation of Pacific Islanders is 50 times higher in National Geographic than would be anticipated given the region's small proportion of the global population. Hollywood movies and World War II photojournalism (Lindstrom and White 1990) have been important contributors to the West's postwar depiction of the Pacific region. However, in creating an audience for images of cultural difference in the Pacific, National Geographic has an unrivalled worldwide reach to over 37 million people per issue. The contribution by Lutz and Collins (1993) to postmodern discourse and representation is taken as the main theoretical point of departure to critically examine the postcolonial depiction of Melanesians in National Geographic. When I started anthropological fieldwork in the eastern half of New Guinea in 1973 it was still an Australian colony, and did not become the State of Papua New Guinea (PNG) until 1975. In the western half of New Guinea the changeover from Dutch colony to Indonesian recolonization occurred just over 30 years ago. Data analysis in this paper is based on the 146 photographs of postcolonial Melanesians from the island of New Guinea that have appeared in the pages of National Geographic over the last three decades (see Table 1).

Dumont (1988) relates fashions in the exotic Other to shifting emphases in Western political and economic foundations, with the kind and amount of coverage vacillating according to prevailing international relations between the West and the rest. For Melanesia, race acts as a more significant backdrop constraining camera access than geopolitical interests per se. Backdrops, according to Appadurai "can be interpreted as sites of epistemological uncertainty about exactly what photographs seek to represent" (1997:1). Rydell demonstrates that the scale of evolutionary progress that placed the black-skinned Other (e.g., Africans, Melanesians) at the bottom of the human scale, the brown-skinned Other (e.g., Asians) midway and Whites at the top not only informed nineteenth-century explorers and home consumers of their images but has continued to operate in the West (1984). Race becomes an organizing principle of narratives told about Melanesian peoples.

Racial attitudes control cultural ideas about the nobility of the Melanesian Other. Melanesians exemplify the Noble-Savage theme as fetish because they display "the kind of pathological displacement of libidinal interest that we normally associate with the forms of racism that depend on the idea of a 'wild humanity' for their justification" (White 1978:184). 

West Papuan independence, a matter of time!

Demands a referendum to continue voiced Papua. The reason is, there is news circulating in the community in Papua, if some countries have opened themselves to support a referendum in Papua.

Even SEBI Sambom, one piplar KNPB which has been the political prisoners for alleged treason claims of 199 UN member countries that are 101 of them are ready to provide support for the referendum in Papua, and Papua's fate will be devoting to the United Nations in 2011, it means the West Papuan freedom, from oppression by the Indonesian increasingly likely to occur.
It was strengthened in thousands of mass demonstrations in the Tomb Theys, Thursday. Yes, if some time ago the political aspirations of the Free Papua Movement frequently asked political leaders hardline west of Papua into the Indonesian government, either through legeslatif institutions and executives in local and central, but at this time may be said not.

Maybe society and political organizations that are always crystallized with independent aspirations addressed to the Government that there was never any clarity at all, so the current Indonesian government intervention was not expected in the handling of the Free Papua aspirations.

Not only that, the people of Papua through a team effort 100 to open a dialogue with the Government of Indonesia has never materialized so the community and political leaders prefer to resolve Papua Papua's political status through international channels. Indonesia Today