When the western press thinks of nationalist resistance in Irian Jaya/ West Papua it still tends to think of the 'Stone Age' armed Free Papua Movement (OPM) in the jungle. But since late 1998 an urban movement has emerged that has no overt connection with the guerrillas. This short item introduces the leading personalities of that urban movement.

No doubt the most prominent is Theys Eluay, aged 62 on 12 November 1999. He calls himself Great Leader of the Papuan Nation (Pemimpin Besar Bangsa Papua, up from Pemimpin Papua Barat, or Pemimpin Rakyat Bangsa Papua), but his influence is greatest in the Sentani area near Jayapura, where he is known as a tribal elder (ondofolo). His wife belongs to the Ohee clan, which successfully took the provincial government to the High Court a few years ago over a long-running land problem - this was an unprecedented success (though never properly implemented as far as I know).

The governor (in 1998?) appointed him chairman of the provincial customary council (Lembaga Musyawarah Adat Irian Jaya). He had been a fairly unremarkable Golkar member of the provincial parliament in the last period of the Suharto era. However, when Eluay began to speak out strongly in favour of independence for West Papua, governor Freddy Numberi tried in October 1998 to pull him out of the customary council. This evoked strong protest from other Papuan opinion leaders, such as Phil Erari and Tom Beanal. Eluay was arrested at this time for raising a West Papuan flag (he was released and raised it again December 1999).

Not that the customary council is a terribly crucial institution. Another prominent figure on the council is Yorrys Raweyai, better known till now as a chairman of the thuggish pro-government youth organisation Pemuda Pancasila in Jakarta. Just before the June '99 election Eluay announced he was resigning from Golkar and would start a West Papuan Party (which hasn't eventuated yet). Theys Eluay and Yorrys, the latter of whom is now putting himself forward as an important Papuan leader, seem to have some kind of relationship. This suggests that the West Papuan movement is populist and unorganised enough to be vulnerable to penetration by actors whose loyalties are unclear to say the least.

In 1969 Eluay was among the 1000 delegates to a college that 'voted' for West Papua to become part of Indonesia in the widely criticised UN-supervised 'Act of Free Choice'. He recanted from this past in a long interview published in Cenderawasih Post in November 1998.

In August 1999 Indonesian authorities forbade five West Papuan activists from travelling overseas, and presumably the government regards them as key opinion makers. They were:

One other name that crops up repeatedly in the news is that of Don Flassy, aged 53, secretary of the provincial development planning board Bappeda, graduate in anthropology from the prestigious Dutch Leiden University 1991, also active in the Jayapura human rights NGO ELS-HAM. Together, these seven people possess formidable credentials in academic, church, and NGO circles.

It is worth remarking that, unlike in East Timor during 1998-99, there are at present almost no Papuans prepared to argue publicly for staying with Indonesia, even under conditions of special autonomy. Besides Yorrys Raweyai, who is not very consistent in the views he promotes, almost the only two regularly mentioned as favouring this position are Yap Marey and Yoppi Youwe. Marey was evidently an OPM guerrilla some years ago, who was captured and is now often described in West Papuan literature as 'close to the armed forces'. Youwe is usually described as a customary leader in the Jayapura area.

Gerry van Klinken, editor, 'Inside Indonesia' magazine.