Papua remains a big mystery to the Indonesian public. Even Papuans don't know what exactly happens in their own homeland.

For one thing, we have long been made to believe it is the Free Papua Organization, or OPM, that threatens the area and its people, but we wonder just how many they number and why thousands of security officers have failed to deal with them after years hunting them down.

Our guess is that the unrest is deliberately perpetuated because it benefits the ruling elites in Papua and Jakarta. Another mystery is what is it the authorities are keeping hidden in Papua such that the news media, especially the foreign press, is denied a peek. Are they concealing the mass graves of native Papuans? Or crimes such as illegal logging and the destruction of the environment?

If there are no human rights violations, environmental destruction or illegal logging taking place there, then why the fear of opening up?

We got a glimpse of what really goes on there when in 2013 a low-ranking police officer, Labora Sitorus, was linked to Rp 1.5 trillion ($120 million) bank transactions. He was eventually convicted of illegal logging and fuel smuggling – rackets that could not have been carried out for years without his superiors being aware or involved.

Papua is blessed with abundant natural resources, but its people have benefited little as a result. The biggest single taxpayer in Indonesia, Freeport Indonesia, which operates a copper and gold mine there, has paid $15.2 billion in taxes, royalties, dividends and other direct payments, and $26.1 billion indirectly, from 1992 to 2013 – yet Papua remains the poorest region in the republic.

It is high time we draw back the curtain on these mysteries and bring the truth to light.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/opinion/editorial-open-papua-light-truth/