They walk on the leaves of trees: The wealth of its neighbours in Papua New Guinea has been squandered by a Westminster-style Parliament. No wonder the type of democracy West Papua wants is still up in the air - West Papua / Governance

New Internationalist, April, 2002 by Chris Richards, Paul Kingsnorth

Chris Richards finds an alternative model for West Papuan self-determination.

HE is a human telegraph. He will travel for days to get the news. On foot and by car. Over the Papua New Guinea border, then through the jungle into West Papua. He will go there for important information and decisions -- things that cannot be entrusted to e-mail or the risk of interception. He comes when summoned by one of the few members of his group still remaining in West Papua -- in Wamena, Timika, Manokwari or Sarong. Or Abepura to where Mully lives. The human telegraph allows Mully to keep in touch with 3,000 people who have fled the country in fear of further beatings by the Indonesian military: members of DEMMAK (the Penis Gourd People's Assembly) who now live with their leader, Benni Wenda, in the refugee camp in Vanimo, over the border in Papua New Guinea.

Mully (not his real name) is a law student with a vision. And now is the time for vision, for experimentation, for developing structures of government not yet tried before -- distinctly West Papuan. DEMMAK's model is based on tribal traditions - penis-gourd assemblies. They are designed to ensure that power does not collect in political parties but remains with the highland people, with tribal leaders retaining decision-making power while more educated lowland advisers and facilitators back them up.

Highlanders (those living inland, particularly in mountain areas) tend to see lowlanders (those living in the cities and towns around the coast) as untrustworthy and Westernized. Lowlanders tend to think of highlanders as backward. This division is reflected in the models of government each promotes, and the parties they back. While the Papua Council -- the body that is trying to hold together all groups struggling for independence -- has the firm allegiance of the lowlanders, it's DEMMAK that retains the real confidence of highlanders.

Male highlanders, at least. Women don't have a vote at a tribal level yet. And the term 'penis-gourd assemblies' is unashamedly about men, to the exclusion of women. Penis gourds are sheaths made of a cultivated gourd: often the only substantial body covering that is worn by tribal men. I have seen them frequently in the Baliem Valley amongst the Dani and Yali tribes. They vary in shape and size around the country. Some are long and held erect by string, while others are shorter, broader, sporty models that won't get tangled up in a dash through the forest. It is these examples of difference in culture, attitude and expression that distinguish West Papua from the Western world, and that DEMMAK wants to see represented in government -- traditional features that Mully doubts the Papua Council will preserve.

Nevertheless, Mully says that DEMMAK supports the Papua Council -- at least in the short term. He anticipates that, when West Papua gains its freedom, the head of the Presidium (executive of the Papua Council) will automatically become President, the 31 Presidium members will become the Cabinet, and the 501 panel members will form the legislative body of a parliament.

However, DEMMAK thinks that this structure mirrors too closely the existing Indonesian parliament, which has been tainted by corruption. 'At the moment, the Indonesian Government says that it will give a tribe money for a pig project,' says Mully. 'But when this money comes out from Jakarta, every layer of the bureaucracy takes a cut until almost nothing is left for the tribe and its project. We're scared that, if we keep something close to the present system, this way of working will be replicated.'

DEMMAK want a different long-term structure. Parliament would be filled with visionary advisors in law, politics and economics. Each tribe would elect a leader -- a break from the present where the leader inherits the position from his father. A leader from the NGOs and the churches would join them. They would gather once or twice a year at Parliament to make decisions based on what their communities want to do, taking advice from the parliamentarians. The parliamentarians would also help facilitate decision-making -- a vital component, given the range of attitudes the leaders will no doubt bring with them.

And women? There are some women members of the Papua Council, and they have their own group within the panel system. But they are not well represented anywhere. Mully is critical. He tells me that, traditionally, West Papuan women are second-class citizens. 'Men say to women who want to talk: "You're behind in the conversation. Just shut up."' But, he says, there is progress. The men were recently shocked when a women's congress attracted 600 participants. Through events like this, women are developing into activists -- speaking out publicly about what they can do for West Papua. Indeed, DEMMAK now thinks that the head of the Papua Council should be a woman, so that she can go and fight Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri 'woman-to-woman'. 'Ninety per cent of West Papuan men have, been tainted by the Indonesian system,' says Mully. 'The women are still pure. At meetings now, men are falling silent when women talk. They talk the truth. They keep the peace. And they come up with good solutions.'