What are the situations in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea borders like? - Agustinus Wibowo
I only have been to Vanimo, city on Papua New Guinea border, located next to Jayapura. From what I have seen, the people from Papua New Guinea frequently go to Indonesia just buy goods.
Papua is one of the least-developed province in Indonesia.
But the scary part is : it's far better developed than Papua New Guinea.
If you want to know more about the border, you can follow Agustinus Wibowo that is doing (2014) an expedition there.
There are some interesting write-ups from him, visit:
Daru 22 Agustus 2014: Mengapa Harus Ada Batas di Antara Kita?
"We want infrastructure," Said Mr.Namorong, a teacher from Morehead angrily, "We want to be like Wutung, a border near Jayapura that is officially open. We want our kids to go to school in Indonesia. We want our kids to learn Bahasa Indonesia and technology. We want our house to be built on concrete just like in Indonesia so that our house can stand for two decades, instead of ten years like our wooden houses today. For us, transports to Indonesia is far cheaper than to Port Moresby."
It seems that Papua New Guinea lacks of infrastructure development if we compared them to Indonesia (in this case Morehead against Merauke).
Wirawan Winarto's answer to Indonesia: What are some development projects in West Papua?
Mr.Namorong refuted, "Our problem is accessibility. We don't know about Indonesia even we are on the same islands, sharing borders, and having similar culture. We wan to invite tourists from Indonesia.
"We want to run business in Jakarta and Jayapura," they said.
"We want school!"
"We want hospital!"
"We want market!"
Judging from the article, it seems that Indonesia is far more developed than Papua New Guinea, especially around the borders.
Quora - What is it like to live in West Papua (Indonesia)?
"Look at Indonesia," said Manorong, "On the same island with us, but they can do farming. Here Australia always tell us that we can never do farming. They said our land is not good for farming. And they forced us to import rice from them!"
No comment on this one. I am looking at you, Australia.
Daru 20 Agustus 2014: Mengajar Indonesia di Papua Nugini
On this writings, Agustinus also tells that some Papua New Guinean are pursuing their education in Indonesian universities.
On 1997, Mekha went to Indonesia. Like other Papua New Guinean, he was scared. Because he read on the news that Indonesia is full of soldiers who tried to kill black people. But when he arrived at Jayapura, he knew that it was not true. It is just fantasy. Indonesian are actually very warm and welcoming. And Indonesia is also very safe, with no raskol (rascalls, means robbers who are everywhere in Papua New Guinea). Indonesia really has technology and changed his life. Indonesia helped her to study business and now he has a cabbage farm behind his house.
There are a lot of gossips that said Indonesian are doing genocide against Papuan. Which is not true. Wirawan Winarto's answer to Why does no one seem to care about the current genocide going on in West Papua carried out by the Indonesian government?
There are two other interesting writings from him :
Tais 27 Agustus 2014: Rumah di Sini dan Rumah di Sana (1)
Tais 28 Agustus 2014: Rumah di Sini dan Rumah di Sana (2)
Didimus sang "Dari Sabang Sampai Merauke", he said it means, "Suharto is coming from Sabang and arriving at Merauke."
That is just plain hilarious.
Didimus was born in Merauke (Indonesia) but now stayed at Tais (Papua New Guinea). Merauke. Didimus heard from someone that the city has changed. Didimus always very proud of Indonesia. He said, "Merauke! It has changed. Javanese went there. Papuan and Javanese are married to each other. The road is wide and well-paved. Four trucks can pass! It was a poor village. But Indonesia brought us prosperity, for Marind people!"
Contrary to what Western news reporting everyday, Papuan are not being massacred. Instead they are getting prosperity.
Didimus remembered, "We, Marind people, used to be unemployed and killing each others. The policemen were all Javanese decades ago but today many Papuans are becoming policemen and soldiers. Javanese, Papuans, and Chinese are living together. We, Marind people, are now having good career in police squad. That's good."
Even some Papuans have chances to pursue good career path.
One thing that makes me sad is that the false news that keep saying that there is a genocide in West Papua. (which is not true at all)
"Papua New Guinea government does not care about us. The president does not care about us! In Indonesia, president cares about us. There I have one house, with concrete floors! I want Indonesian president to go here. To go to Papua New Guinea so he can take care of us. And who is the president of Indonesia now?"
These stories are coming from Tais, Papua New Guinean side of the border and I wonder what are the stories from Indonesian side of the border.
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