Analysis of Theys Eluay,and his role in the struggle for independence in West Papua. Theys Eluay was killed by Kopassus in 2001. On his death he became a Papuan hero and martyr.

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The Life and Death of a Papua - Martyr And Hero, TheysHiyoEluay
Introduction
There was always some ambiguity in the role of TheysHiyoEluay. He clearly had a background
of co-operation with the Indonesians. In his home area, Sentani, he did not have a large amount
of support as the memories were still vivid of the largew number of people killed through his
intervention with the Indonesian army. Some victims of his role before and after the Act of Free
Choice (Pepera) of 1969 are still in hiding in PNG.
The struggle of the Papuans for freedom and independence came fully into the open with the
fall of Soeharto. Habibie had soon after taking over as President promised East-Timor a
referendum. The Papuans were promised a “dialogue.” TheysEluay played a minor role in these
first public efforts of political mobilization of the Papuan people. His day came after the mass
mobilization of the Papuans had already taking place, in the form of a “dialogue” and the
“socialization”of this dialogue. In February 1999 a Team of One Hundred, led by Thom Beanal,
went to Habibie and asked for independence for the Papuan people.
Only after the rise of Thom BeanalTheys appointed himself to Great Leader of the Papuan
Peopleor also Great Leader of West-Papua. There was then always the suspicion that his
conversion from Red-White (Indonesian Nationalist) to a Papuan Freedom fighter was not
sincere, but that he was manipulated by the army and by the kopassus. Up to the evening
where he met his death Theys was very close o the army, police and kopassus commanders.
However, by his violent death he clearly redeemed himself. He was now in the line of other
Papuan martyrs like Arnold Ap, and ThomansWangay
Whatever the motivation of his murderers it is difficult to imagine that they anticipated the mass
mobilization after his death and at his funeral. The worldwide media attention for his murder.
The setting up of several investigation teams and the open acknowledgement that all the
evidence pointed to the Kopassus as the murders of TheysEluay and to all probability also his
driver.
Background
TheysEluay was educated in the Advanced Primary School (Jongensvervolgschool) of Yoka,
Sentani, He followed then a course in meteorology and worked as a meteorologist assistant. He
is from the Sere village and comes from a family of traditional leaders (ondoafi). He became
ondoafi, probably because of his relatively advanced education, though he was not entitled to
the responsibility as it follows a strict order of seniority. In After 1963, when Indonesia tried to
eliminate Papua protest against its integration into Indonesia, Theys assisted the Indonesian
army in pointing out people who were pro-Dutch and/or ant-Indonesian. These caused, in the
smaal community of Sentani people (at that time probably around 15,000) a large number of
victims. Theys was a member of the small number of Papuans selected to vote for integration
with Indonesia in 1969. He helped to conduct a campaign in favour of a positive vote. Most of
the Sentani people at that time did not agree with what Theys was doing. In 1971 he became a
member of the “gotongroyong” (co-operation) parliament. By 1980 the influence of Theys had
already declined, which made him feel frustrated. He then joined the LembagaMusyawarahAdat
Papua, translated as the Papuan Customary Council Assembly, first of the Sentani area, then of
the province. In 1990 he became chairman of this Council. Only in 1996 this Council became
more politicised, with its highpoint in the period 1998-2002..
The role of Theys in the freedom struggle since 1998
The rise of TheysEluay started soon after the Team of One Hundred had gone to Jakarta and
had publicly announced, with not a single dissenting vote, that the result of the dialogue,
initiated by Habibie was that the Papuans wanted to be free. This had not been planned. On the

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contrary. The government had dome everything it could to block any real expression of opinion.
At all the regencies petitions had already been prepared that the religious leaders, the leaders
of adat (traditional law) and the leaders of society humbly would ask Habibie to divide the
province into three parts in order to be governed more effectively. It would also mean that for
two Papuans a position as a provincial governor would be made available. The population got
the wind of this and they demanded everywhere that this letter would not be send, but another
letter instead which demanded freedom/independence. They demanded that the regent (bupati)
or the head of police in the districts (kecamatan) would sign the letter too and that he would
stamp it with the official government stamp. This was the first time the people came out into the
open with their opinion with disregard of the consequences for their personal safety. They just
signed these petitions with their name and function. Not long before this, the ones signing such
statements would get dismissed, imprisoned or worse. People no longer were afraid as they
saw the offer of dialogue as their last chance to gain their freedom.
Part of this mobilization as done by an ad-hoc organization, Foreri, which took up the offer of
Habibie. Foreri, the Forum Rekonsiliasi Rakyat Irian Jaya, was an initiative of church leaders,
who were joined by the adat leaders, and the student and women organizations. Theys was
one of the adat leaders, together with Tom Beanal and Gaspar Sibi. Theys, it seems, was only
asked to give the requests of Foreri some legitimacy. This was the Trinity of ordebaruism:
society, i. e. women and students (tokohmasyarakat or tomas), the adat leaders (tokohadat or
todat) and religion (tokoh agama or togas) As chairman of the Papuan Customary Council
Assembly Theys’ support was off course important to augment the legitimacy of the activities of
Foreri in mobilizing the people to express their opinion freely.
Theys took initially a conservative viewpoint. He considered it too extreme to ask for
independence. He did not join the Team of One Hundred. This changed, however, when the
Team came back to Papua in triumph. They were the heroes. The delegate of Serui, Yusuf
Tanawani, was carried on the shoulders of people all the way form the harbour till the assembly
hall, where he explained to enthusiastic masses what had been achieved. Independence was
immanent. All this was completely ignored by the only province wide daily, the Cendrawasih
Pos. It is published by JawaPos, but with a control by the army. In almost in every issue there is
news about some events in the army and police complete with a number of picture of these
dignatatries in uniform. There is much reporting on events in the army and police, like transfers,
promotions or just opinions. C-Poshs hardly any any Papuans as journalists. The focus is on the
migrants. When the Team of One Hundred had made its point to HabibieCendrawasihPos dared
to ignore this fact, but instead interview one Pauan, who had nothing to do with the Team or
with Foreri, who explained that he was not in favour of autonomy. This seemd very ridiculous
and the apper lost all credibility. That was the time that TheysEluay, Don Flassy and two
students were arrested charged with organizing a meeting to discuss Papuan independence.
When Theys was freed after a week he appeared on the frontpage of the CendrawasihPos with
a picture, stating that West Papau did not need to ask for Independence as it had been
independent all the way since 1 December 1961. Independence had illegally been usurped by
Indonesia. It had just to be given back. The contrast with the previous editorial policy could not
have been greater. This reporting definitely increased the circulation of Cendrawasih Pos. It was
now only Theys who appeared in the paper. Other leaders in the struggle, like Tom Beanal or
Herman Awom hardly appeared. There were weeks that Theys appeared almost every day with
a picture on the frontpage. “Theys is weeping”, Theys is angry or rather “wrathful” (murka),
Theys is sick and had to go to Singapore, “Straightaway friends” (after fetching the new military
commander from the airport in Sentani!). This increased Theys’ popularity. He had the courage
(or was given the opportunity) to say things other people were afraid to say in the open. All the
time Theys remained very close to the top of the security apparatus. He was the adat leader

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and now also the Leader of the Papuans and as such he was part of the small and select group
of the most powerful in the province.
Theys was a self-appointed leader. He got much of his support because of the publicity C Pos
gave him. He called himself Great Leader of the Papuan People or also the Great Leader of
West Papua. In February 2000 there was a large gathering of Papuans in a so-called
MusyawarahBesar to discuss the future of West Papua and to determine a strategay of the
struggle. By this time the army made overtures to the OPM. There was o be a dialogiue
between the Indonesian army and the OPM. These were from now on free to go where they
wanted. The OPM was also present at the Mubes, which took place in Sentani Indah Hotel. By
that time Theys had already formed a large group of so called Taskforce (Satgas) Papua. These
were responsible for the security at the Mubes. Though a majority at the Mubes was in favour
of Tom as chairman of the movement, with the great number of satgas close to the place where
the meeting was held, Theys could definitely not be ignored. A compromise was struck and both
became “Great Leader of the Papuan People”. At the follow up of this Mubes the Congress or
rather the Second Papuan Congress, the first was held in 1961, Theys stood up at the
beginning of the meeting and said: “I am the chairman, is not it, Tom, while you are the vice
chairman?” Tom did not want a quarrel at the beginning of such a crucial meeting where very
conflicting opinions about the strategy had to be accommodated and the unity of the movement
had to preserved at all costs. The Congress took place in May – June 2000, just to remember
the first of May 1963 when Indonesia came in full control of West Papua, after the UNTEA
period. The PDP or Presidium Dewan Papua, elected at the Congress of 2000 is fairly
representative if we look to its composition with people from Biak, Sentani, Paniai, Merauke,
FakFak and Wamena present. Also various churches, mainline protestant, evangelical and
Roman Catholic, and even the Islam is represented.
The PDP formed a group which the local and the national government and the heads of army
and police were prepared to take seriously as they were recognized as representatives of the
Papuans in general, when dealing with issues as public security, the issue of the raising of the
Independence flag, illegal demonstrations etc. In this way the PDP was given a considerable
legitimacy. At the same time as the new government, and especially the new president Gus Dur,
was building up a relationship of trust with the PDP, the army reacted with aggressiveness and
violence on the raising of the Morningstar flag in the various districts and regencies. Each time
there was a considerable number of deaths. Papuans began to speak about Bloody Biak,
Bloody Timika, Bloody Sorong, Bloody Nabire etc.
As chairman of the PDP Theys was not known for consulting his fellow PDP members. Usually
they had to read in the papers what Theys was doing on behalf of the PDP and by extension the
Papuan people. For one PDP member, Benny Giay from Paniai, this became too much to
stomach when without consultation Theys honoured the departing commander of the army by
elevating him to the rank of “Great Warrior of the Papuans.” Papuans from the highlands said
that they objected to raise funds and pigs for somebody who had a reputation of killing
Papuans, as in the many incidents mentioned above. Benny Giay, who originates from Paniai,
left the PDP saying that he was now too busy at the college, where he works as a lecturer.
Moreover there hardly had been any meetings of the PDP.
Whatever his shortcomings or his real motivations by his violent death by those he at one time
in his life may have considered his friends he immediately became an icon in the continuing
struggle of Papuans against an oppressive Government.