In November of last year the Papua Pride event took place in the Jacobi Church in Utrecht. An event during which, 40 years after the Act of Free Choice, the future of Papua and the Papua people was given extensive consideration.
The parties involved in the organization of this event were HAPIN, PACE, Pro Papua and Papua Lobby. A wide range of versatile speakers from Papua, Indonesia, Germany and the Netherlands expressed their vision on the future of the Papua people, as seen from a cultural, political and social-economic perspective. Among the people that had been invited were a.o. Pieter Drooglever, Friedrich Tometten, Fransisca Nuhuyanan, Kees van der Meiracker en Muridan Widjojo.
In his opening speech the late Viktor Kaisiëpo referred to the right of self-determination of the people of Papua. To himself this also implied trying to find a solution for practicalactual objectives in Papua, such as fighting against food shortage, poverty, aids and malaria, pushing back the high mortality rate at births and among little children, standing up for equality of gender, the environment and trying to find international support for economic growth. “We need not give up our principles, but now is the time to focus on more practical matters”, Viktor argued.
The contrasting views between Jakarta and Papua about the interpretation of history and the political status of Papua is one of the principal causes of the conflict in Papua, according to Muridan Widjojo of the Indonesian Science Institute (LIPI). A peaceful dialogue to leave this stalemate behind us is sorely needed. To this end LIPI has formulated the so-called Papua Road Map in order to give direction to this process. The latest news is that the former vice-president Jusuf Kalla has been asked to give his support to this initiative. At the time Kalla played an important role in the Atjeh peace process.
More than 300 visitors found their way to the Jacobi Church where, apart from the speakers, photo exhibitions, stands and films could be seen and heard. The day was of course rounded off with a meal, but also with music, performed by René Kipuw, Papua singer Maybe Ireeuw, the saxophone player Steven Kamperman from Utrecht en various music friends.
