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When I watched the movie 'Avatar' for the first time, it truly struck a chord with me.  Not just because of the cool 3D graphics and amazing special effects... but because of the story.  It hit home.

As the saying goes, history repeats itself, and when you take away the special effects and blue avatars, this film portrays the current situation in West Papua, and the situation which has recurred time and time again throughout history on possibly all continents worldwide.

I have written a few posts recently involving some conspiracy theories related to Independence of West Papua from Indonesia... regardless of that, the movement in Papua is strong.  And the fear that if they don't gain independence the people and culture will become extinct is very real.

So what's the big deal, right?  63 countries around the world have recognized Papua's bid for independence from Indonesia, and no one can deny the cultural basis for their argument... so why doesn't Indonesia just grant them the Independence that they should have had since 1963 and go their separate ways peacefully... that's all the Papuans are asking for...

Well, the answer is simple:  If they were to grant West Papua independence, then Indonesia would go from being one of the most resource-rich countries on Earth, to being a very poor country, overnight.  Papua is known as the 'kitchen of Indonesia' within Indonesia... but I prefer to refer to it as the 'wallet'...   Papua is extremely rich in natural resources - forests, fisheries and minerals which are relatively untouched.  Resources which the rest of Indonesia, and indeed, most of the rest of the world, have depleted past the point of recovery.  Resources which are currently being extracted and exploited for the benefit of Indonesia, not necessarily Papua.  It's not hard to believe, as someone told me was reported in the 2010 Statistics Indonesia report, that Papua's contribution to the economic wealth of the country is higher than any other province... but what doesn't make a lot of sense is...

According to the same report of the latest data from Statistics Indonesia, Papuans are the poorest of all Indonesians with more people living in poverty than anywhere else in the country - when I looked up the data, in turns out it's at 3 TIMES the national average!

This discrepancy is unacceptable, and the Papuan people are fed up with it and pushing for action.  The last time a solution was put on the table was in 2001, when Papua was granted 'Special Autonomy', which was supposed to allow for regional decision-making, and Traditional Councils given the power to rule according to traditional law.  It's been ten years, and most Papuans call it a failure.

Native Papuans are already minorities on their own lands... the data from last years' census shows that it is now 60% non-native Papuans residing in Papua to 40% indigenous Papuans.  Of those non-native 60%, half have moved here within the past 10 years.  Some would talk of a conspiracy there as well... but barring that, the current plans for transmigration are outrageous - if they go ahead, the native Papuan tribes will become extinct within a generation or two.  The plans for Raja Ampat, a Regency with a population of approximately 40,000 people (I don't know the percentage of native to non-) is targeted to receive 300,000 Javanese in the coming years.  Can you say sitting ducks, or better yet, Dodo birds?

And this is not to mention the effect the transmigration mindset has on the environment (see this previous post for musings on that topic).

A good friend, and advocate for West Papuan Independence said to me last week, "Indonesia loves Papua's natural resources, but they don't love the Papuan people".