Stop Sudah English-revised-March2012 - International Center for ...

2. Sprouts of the Papuan Women’s Movement in Conflict Situations
The ebb and flow of conflict in the Land of Papua has a direct impact on all members of Papuan society,
and women are no exception. The experience of violence that has caused such pain to women has helped
them to forge a clearer understanding of the issues they have experienced, and made them stronger to
survive in uncertain conditions.
At the beginning of the 20 th century, Dutch missionary institutions (UZV and ZNHK) promoted education
that was led by the wives of teachers in an effort to change the culture of Papuan children. In addition to
the school for young boys, Jongens Vervolg School/JVVS, and various vocational schools such as Opleiding
Doorps School Onderwijzers/Odo (Elementary School Teacher Education), in 1949 a formal school was
opened for girls, Meisjes Vervolg School/MVVS (Girls’ Middle School). The purpose of establishing schools
was to break the shackles of tradition and culture that impede progress, including that of Papuan girls. A
foundation named Zending Schoollen (Missionary Schools) was established in 1952 for the education of village
children, while in the capital city the government established the LSB School (Lagere School B) for the
children of civil servants and the public. Then in 1962, the Christian Education Foundation was established
to replace Zending Schollen and it continues to this date. However, entering the period of transition from
Dutch governance to UNTEA in 1962, state vocational schools for women were closed. Then Catholic and
Protestant churches established centers of non-formal education for Papuan women. On April 2, 1962, the
Evangelical Christian Church (GKI) in West Irian (now GKI in the Land of Papua) founded the Center for
Social Education (PPS), which later became the Center for Women's Education, Training, and
Development (P3W) in Abepura, Jayapura City of Papua Province. 9 This training center aims to improve
life skills and give women the ability to train other village women. At the opening of the PPS, the first
indigenous moderator of the GKI Synod, the Reverend F. J. S. Rumainum, said, “Woe to a nation if the
men advance, but the women do not participate in the changing times.”
In the early 1970s at Enarotali, Delegatus or the Social Unit (Delsos) of the Catholic Church in Jayapura
founded the Learning Activities Studio (SKB), an educational center for women who were candidates to
become community educators. SKB pupils were girls from the Catholic Church and the Kingmi Church
(Evangelical Gospel Tent Church of Indonesia) in a number of villages in various regions of Papua. In
general, these education centers taught Papuan women basic “girlhood” skills such as sewing, cooking and
addressing nutritional problems, health (helping mothers in childbirth), and economic skills. In addition to
non-formal education institutions, in the 1970s Catholic and Protestant (Indonesian Chrisitan
Church/GKI) churches established formal elementary to high school level boarding schools in several
regions of Papua such as Merauke, Wamena, Jayapura, etc. A number of alumnae from these boarding
schools acknowledge that the boarding school pattern of education contributed to the development of
discipline, solidarity, and unity among students from various regions of Papua.
A number of women alumnae of these boarding schools became leaders of the women's movement in
Papua. For example, Mama Saly Yaboisembut (a graduate of the Santo Paulus Catholic School Education
Foundation Junior High School, Abepura) who was a former member of the Wamena House of
Representatives; Mama Abina Wasanggai (alumna of the Christian Education Foundation Junior High
School, Kotaraja Jayapura), a former commissioner on the Papua Regional Human Rights Commission who
currently serves as Secretary of Papua Women's Solidarity; Louisa Maturbongs (alumna of the Catholic
School Education Foundation Junior High School, Kokonao), a bureaucrat in the Social Services Bureau of
9 Some of the P3W alumnae became community leaders, wives of officials, etc., such as Orpa Yohame from Anggruk-
Yahukimo who became a member of the Women’s Working Group of the MRP; Yultje Wenda, wife of Lukas Enember, the
District Head of Puncak Jaya; and Deorothea Merabano, Principal of YPK Elementary School in Mamda, Kemtuk. Interview
with Rev. Mesach Koibur (fourth moderator of the Evangelical Christian Church/GKI in Irian Jaya) on March 11, 2010.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! 10