Indonesian Papua has one of the world’s biggest mines of gold and copper, the Grasberg mine. The irony, however, such a blessed region is the poorest among other Indonesian provinces. In addition, human security in Papua and West Papua has worsened since the reoccurring case of violence against the natives and violation of human rights.
Papua has a number of problems regarding the prosperity of the people which hinders the people’s security. These problems are poverty, low education participation, high living cost, insufficient public infrastructure, and economic woes.
However, the most concerning problem is discrimination against the natives. This unfairness makes it hard for the Papuans to get out of poverty or end the violence happening in the region.
Indonesia’s current president, Mr. Joko Widodo, has promised to solve the violence problem in Papua. However, the lack of commitment of other authoritative figures has made the violence problem or human rights violations remained unsolved to this day, for instance, the Paniai case.
There has been no solid conclusion or answer to eradicating or, at least, minimizing the number of similar cases occurring. Thus, what could the national and local governments do to stop this problem? The answer might lie in the following explanation.
Using Human Security Approach to End the Reoccuring Violence in Papua
Everyone sees the world in a different light. To some, the world might be a wonderful and peaceful place. Meanwhile to others, the world might just be a terrible yet breakable place to live in. Whatever the notion is, everyone could agree that despite many horribles happening around the globe, we all want better living conditions through human security (HS).
HS approach is a non-traditional security approach as a response to shifting the focus on security threats from only the military issues (traditional) to humanitarian, health, environmental and economic issues (non-traditional).
In other words, the approach is a way to use a broader perspective covering the threat of poverty, famine, disease, violence, and other violations of human rights in solving security problems.
Why Should the Government Use this Approach?
According to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), a nation’s level of success in creating security for the people could be measured through the Human Development Index (HDI), educational opportunities, and life expectancy.
Hence, the focal point should really be on the people. By using this approach, increasing the populace’s prosperity could be achieved in a long term.
There is an essential center of interest related to this approach, such as personal security, community security, food security, environmental security, health security, and political security. The concept of security is related to creating defense and prevention against threats. However, if the government does not focus on other non-traditional issues, it would be difficult to maintain security at the individual level.
President Joko Widodo has shown his commitment to developing the Papua region. Through massive infrastructure development, he aimed to improve economic growth and to open the isolation of remote areas in Papua. Moreover, the president has created many programs to support the Papuans’ health security and constructed many health facilities so that the natives could get better and proper health services. The remaining issues, however, persist due to the lack of understanding of the root problems in Papua because to this day, the Papuans still receive less favorable treatment.
The Papuans deserve not to live under the pressure of discrimination and violence. While deploying military power is important, the government should also use the human security approach to solve the core problem of violence in Papua in order to maintain national stability and security.
