INDONESIA: COMMUNAL TENSIONS IN PAPUA Asia Report N°154 – 16 June 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................................. i I. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 II. MANOKWARI ............................................................................................................... 2 A. THE GRAND MOSQUE ................................................................................................................2 B. THE DRAFT REGULATION ..........................................................................................................5 C. MUSLIM REACTION....................................................................................................................6 III. KAIMANA ...................................................................................................................... 7 A. TENSIONS OVER A CONCERT AND TREE.....................................................................................8 B. THE NEW RELIGIOUS FORCES ....................................................................................................9 IV. UPROAR OVER A MUSLIM CAMPUS IN JAYAPURA....................................... 10 V. EXPLAINING THE TENSIONS: DEMOGRAPHICS ............................................ 11 A. GROWTH OF ISLAM ..................................................................................................................11 B. “ISLAMISATION” AND MIGRATION ...........................................................................................11 VI. IMPACT OF THE MALUKU CONFLICT............................................................... 14 A. POST-SOEHARTO EUPHORIA ....................................................................................................14 B. THE MALUKU CONFLICT COMES TO PAPUA ............................................................................15 VII. NEW MUSLIM AND CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS GROUPS .................................. 17 A. HIZB UT-TAHRIR......................................................................................................................17 B. SALAFISM IN PAPUA.................................................................................................................18 C. JEMAAH TABLIGH ....................................................................................................................18 D. PENTECOSTALS AND CHARISMATICS........................................................................................19 VIII. A NEW SENSE OF HISTORY ................................................................................... 21 IX. MODERATING INFLUENCES? ............................................................................... 22 A. RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE PAPUAN MUSLIM COUNCIL ....................................................22 B. OTHER INSTITUTIONS...............................................................................................................23 X. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 24 APPENDICES A. MAP OF INDONESIA.......................................................................................................................25 B. MAP OF PAPUA .............................................................................................................................26 C. ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP .................................................................................27 D. CRISIS GROUP REPORTS AND BRIEFINGS ON ASIA.........................................................................28 E. CRISIS GROUP BOARD OF TRUSTEES.............................................................................................30 Asia Report N°154 16 June 2008 INDONESIA: COMMUNAL TENSIONS IN PAPUA EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS Indonesian Papua has seen periodic clashes between democratic system where Christians can exercise pro-independence supporters and goverment forces, “tyranny of the majority”. The communal divide is but conflict between Muslim and Christian communi- overlain by a political one: many Christian Papuans ties could also erupt unless rising tensions are effec- believe autonomy has not gone nearly far enough, tively managed. Violence was narrowly averted in while many Muslim migrants see it as a disaster and Manokwari and Kaimana in West Papua province in are fervent supporters of centralised rule from Jakarta. 2007, but bitterness remains on both sides. The key factors are continuing Muslim migration from else- In some areas latent tensions have been kept under where in Indonesia; the emergence of new, exclusivist control by pairing a Papuan Christian district head groups in both religious communities that have hard- with a non-Papuan Muslim deputy, with political and ened the perception of the other as enemy; the lasting economic spoils divided accordingly. That may work impact of the Maluku conflict; and the impact of de- in areas like Merauke, where the migrant population velopments outside Papua. National and local officials has already exceeded 50 per cent, but is not a solution need to ensure that no discriminatory local regulations where the majority feels itself under threat. are enacted, and no activities by exclusivist religious organisations are supported by government funds. Where the risk of conflict is high, indigenous Papuan Muslims, largely concentrated in the Bird’s Head re- The Manokwari drama, played out over more than gion of north western Papua, can play a bridging role, two years, illustrates some of the changes. It started in particularly through a new organisation, Majelis Mus- 2005, when Christians mobilised to prevent an Is- lim Papua. This organisation is both firmly committed lamic centre and mosque from being built on the to universal Islamic values and deeply rooted in Pap- place where German missionaries brought Christian- uan culture and traditions. They have a demonstrated ity to Papua in the mid-nineteenth century. Muslim capacity to cool communal tensions, working with anger went beyond Papua; many Indonesian Muslims, their Christian counterparts. But the indigenous Mus- newly conscious of the history of Muslim traders in lim community is being divided, too, as more and the area, saw Islam as Papua’s original religion and more have opportunties to study Islam outside Papua found the rejection of the mosque intolerable. Local and come home with ideas that are at odds with tradi- church leaders, seeing the reaction, believed they tional practices. It would be in the interests of all con- needed to strengthen Manokwari’s Christian identity cerned to support a network of state Islamic institutes and in 2007 drafted a regulation for the local parlia- in Papua that could produce a corps of indigenous re- ment that would have infused the local goverment ligious scholars and reinforce the moderation long with Christian values and symbols and discriminated characteristic of Papuan Muslims. against Muslims in the process. It was never enacted but generated a furore in Muslim communities across Several mechanisms are available for dialogue among Indonesia and increased the sense of siege on both religious leaders in Papua, including the working sides. It remains to be seen how a new draft that be- group on religion of the Papuan People’s Council gan to be circulated in late May 2008 will be greeted. (Majelis Rakyat Papua, MRP), a body set up to pre- serve Papuan rights and traditions, but they do not It is not just in Manokwari, however, that the com- necessarily have any impact at the grassroots. More munities feel themselves under threat. Many indige- effective might be programs designed to identify nous Christians feel they are being slowly but surely communal hotspots and work out non-religious pro- swamped by Muslim migrants at a time when the cen- grams that could benefit both communities. tral government seems to be supportive of more con- servative Islamic orthodoxy, while some migrants be- lieve they face discrimination if not expulsion in a Indonesia: Communal Tensions in Papua Crisis Group Asia Report N°154, 16 June 2008 Page ii RECOMMENDATIONS: 5. Avoid funding any groups that preach exclusivity or enmity toward other faiths. To the Central Government: 6. Ensure public debate on the percentage of jobs for 1. Avoid supporting faith-based activities with an Papuans and the impact on further in-migration of overtly political agenda, so as not to exacerbate non-Papuans before agreeing to any further admin- existing problems, and instruct the armed forces istrative division. and police to ensure that Papua-based personnel 7. Reject discriminatory local regulations. are not seen as taking communal sides. 8. Work with donors to identify areas of high tension 2. Identify new approches to addressing communal where conflict might be defused by non-religious tensions at the grassroots level, going beyond the projects involving cooperation for mutual benefit often ineffectual promotion of interfaith dialogue across communities. among elites. 3. Work with the provincial governments to support To Donors: the State Islamic Institute (STAIN) in Jayapura 9. Support conflict-resolution training for Papua-based and facilitate close links with the State Islamic organisations, including the Majelis Muslim Papua University (UIN) in Jakarta to ensure that Papua and the religious working group of the