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Konflik Papua dan Impaknya Terhadap Hubungan Indonesia dengan Jiran Serantau |
After the end of the Cold War, many of issues that were once marginalized now gained the attention of international relations scholars. This is due to the fact that arms race is no longer the main international issue. One of the issues is the Papua conflict in Indonesia, which has continued for nearly five decades. Although the government of Indonesia has made every effort to stop it, the conflict persists until now. This study aims to investigate the Papua conflict from its early stage in Indonesia, 1962 to 2012, and its impact on Indonesia’s relations with its regional neighbours, particularly Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG). This study has three objectives, which are: to identify the policies decided by the central government to settle the Papua conflict, especially in the era of reform; to analyse the impact of Papua conflict on Australian and their effort to fix bilateral relations, and to analyse the impact of the Papua conflict to its neighbours, mainly Papua New Guinea, as well as to fix their bilateral relations. This study used qualitative research methods, and collected both primary and secondary data. The primary data was collected through interviews with informants with primary authoritative sources, while the open questionnaires were distributed by purposive sampling. Secondary data were obtained through books, journals, newspapers, and from the results of past studies. The study reveals three key findings. First, the fall of Suharto which triggered the Reform era has resulted Indonesia become more democratic, where the policy to resolve a special autonomy of Papua rule, Papuan People's Council (MRP) was established. Second, Papua is an important to Australia because it is rich with natural resources and its as a buffer zone. Both countries have attempted to improve their relation by the signing of a bilateral cooperation agreement, Australia – Indonesia Agreement on Maintaining Security (AMS) at 1995. Third, Papua New Guinea has an interest in Papua because there are racial similarities in both countries. To that end, both sides have signed bilateral cooperation agreements, such as the signing of the border treaty between Indonesia and PNG on February 4, 1982. Based on the empirical evidence, this study suggests that in order for the government to solve the conflict, it is suggested that Indonesia should developed Papua just like other provinces. |