Local Civil Society Groups in Autonomous Papua: Continuity, Criticism and Civil Resistance during a Period of Conflict

Abstract

The role of civil society in Papua, Indonesia's easternmost area, has become more salient since 2001, when the province was granted special autonomy. Local civil society groups (CSGs), such as churches, musical groups, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), youth groups, student organizations, and humanitarian groups, bridge the lack of a state presence to advocate for pressing issues and promote the interests of indigenous Papuans seeking a response from the state. However, civil society in Papua operates within a paradox. On one hand, the 2001 special autonomy law provides significant funds and greater authority to local governments in Papua. On the other, a political context marked by enduring repression constrains the role of local CSGs to work on pressing issues in Papua, such as political and human rights issues. How do local CSGs in Papua identify and respond to strategic opportunities within this political context?

The role of local CSGs during the conflict in Papua has broader implications for our understanding of how local groups operate in a democratic country that still struggles with a long-running conflict at a sub-regional level. This thesis challenges several longstanding assumptions. First, that democracy as a national system can be maintained and even improved without necessarily resolving nationalist conflict in a territorially concentrated area. If the state resists resolving the root causes of the conflict and keeps employing a security approach during the autonomy period, the conflict will not cease. Second, in contrast to the generally held assumption that local CSGs in a conflict area are merely crucial in de-escalating the tension, providing basic services, and assisting the conflict-affected people, local groups in Papua are also determined to escalate the current conflict by challenging state authority. The typology of CSGs operating in Papua provides a framework for analyzing the synergistic relationship between civil society and conflict in the interest of devising a model that can be applied to other nationalist conflicts for investigative and comparative purposes. Third, a changing political space, such as Otonomi Khusus (Special Autonomy, Otsus,) first introduced in 2001 and implemented in 2002, can provide local CSGs with an opportunity not only to respond to state power, as widely argued by scholars, but, more importantly, to advocate for people's interests at the local level.

This thesis focuses on the role of local CSGs during the conflict in Papua and in the changing political space of Otsus. It argues that conflict shapes the nature and the formation of local CSGs, but it is within Otsus's space that these groups adopt strategies that can maintain, de-escalate, or even escalate the conflict. Otsus, in variously opening up, limiting or closing down local CSGs activities in Papua, has generated opportunities and challenges that prompt the groups to adopt strategies within this changing space. Local groups' responses to this changing space are determinant of the course of the Papua conflict during the Otsus period. The more conflictual the strategies adopted by local CSGs, the more likely that conflict will escalate; the more moderate the strategies, the more likely conflict will de-escalate. And the more cooperative the strategies adopted by local CSGs, the more likely the status quo will be maintained in Papua. The thesis draws from the work of local CSGs: Kipra and YPKM working on developmental agendas; SKPKC Franciscan Papua and YTHP advocating human rights issues; KNPB and AMP pursuing self-determination aspirations; and TRN (Voluntary Group for Nduga, Tim Relawan Nduga), TSN (Solidarity Group for Nduga, Tim Solidaritas Nduga), and KAR (Koalisi Anti-Rasisme) dealing with armed conflict and anti-racism protest in Papua. These group's various strategies also reflect their relationship with the state and their representation of Papuan interests during the conflict in Papua. Show more