Constructing Papuan Nationalism: History, Ethnicity ... - ScholarSpace

48 Richard Chauvelat provincial or national levels. No Papuans were appointed as Ministers oras senior officials in central government departments. 75 Nor were Papuansever appointed to positions as governor or other senior officials in provinceselsewhere in Indonesia. Meanwhile, Indonesians from Aceh to Malukuflooded into Papua to assume positions that had previously been held byPapuans. From the lowest to the most senior levels of the bureaucracy,Papuan officials were excluded from the administration and “becameobservers and foreigners in their own country.” 76 Wayoi was not the onlyPapuan to make this observation. ClemensRunaweri relates that many of the Papuans whowere prepared to work in the Indonesian administrationwere removed from their positions,because of their nationalist political views.Another leading nationalist who was eventuallystripped of his position was Nicolaas Tanggahma,who had served until early 1968 as head of theBureau of Public Administration. Even less politicalsenior Papuan officials, such as ArnoldMampioper and M. B. Ramandey, lost their positions in the period leadingup to the “Act of Free Choice.” Furthermore, though the Papuan politicalelite had been well represented in the New Guinea Council elected in 1961,after 1963 they were increasingly excluded from the legislative positions.For example, in 1963 the New Guinea Council was replaced by whatClemens Runaweri describes as “a new Indonesian democratic institutionwith appointed members.” The new council was a symbolic institutionheaded by the governor and with no powers to make laws—in Runaweri’sterms, a “farce democracy.” This council, the Dewan Perwailian RakyatDaerah-Gotong Royong (Provincial Parliament–Mutual Assistance,DPRD-GR), of which Clemens Runaweri was one of the members, wasitself abolished in November 1968, because the majority of its memberswere thought to be subversives and separatists. 77E. J. Bonay, Herman Wayoi, Fritz Kirihio, and Clemens Runawerihad been among the Papuan beneficiaries of the Netherlands policies ofrapidly expanding educational opportunities, political advancement, andPapuanization of the bureaucracy. They were the formulators of Papuannationalism and, if the Netherlands’ plans for decolonization had beenrealized, they might have been the leading politicians of an independentWest Papua. Their pragmatism and initial acceptance of Indonesian ruleThe rivalries and antagonismsbetween Papuansand Indonesians…wereeven more apparentafter Indonesiatook control.