Benny Giay - The Papuan Struggle

The Papuan Struggle

On returning to Papua in 1995 after his studies in the Netherlands, Giay became a lecturer in Church and Society and Contextual Theology at the Walter Post Theological College where he established a Postgraduate Program Church and Society. He has also been active in the Papua movement. In July 1998, he took the initiative to establish the Forum for the Reconciliation of Irian Jaya Society (FORERI). It aimed at a discussion on ways in which Papuans could have "an opportunity to handle their own affairs" whether through full independence, through wide-ranging autonomy within the Indonesian unitary state, or through the formation of a federal system in which the province of Irian Jaya (now the provinces of Papua and West-Papua) would enjoy substantial autonomy. FORERI helped to set up the national dialogue in Papua, initiated by President B. J. Habibie. This resulted in 100 Papuans, representing the various districts, unanimously demanding independence from Habibie in February 1999. Benny Giay was elected by the Second Papua Congress in Jayapura in June 2000 to be a member of the Presidium of the Papua Council (Presidium Dewan Papua or PDP). This Congress, with representatives from all the regions of West Papua, debated the political future of Papua. He was charged with the "straightening of Papua history"(meluruskan sejarah Papua). To help the discussion he published a pamphlet Towards a New Papua, providing resource material to help Papuans discuss their future. He also later supported the initiative to turn the Papua struggle into a peaceful, non-violent struggle with the establishment of Zones of Peace and Papua as a Land of Peace (Tanah Damai). In July 2002 the local organisation for the defence of human rights ELSHAM, the churches and the PDP set up a Peace Task force, with Benny Giay as its head. Its primary objective is to pursue reconciliation among Papuans through peaceful dialogue. Giay's book Peristiwa penculikan dan pembunuhan Theys H Eluay 10 November 2001 (The Abduction and Assassination of Theys H Eluay on November 10, 2001)" was banned by the local authorities in West Papua. The book was considered dangerous to national unity. At the Synod Conference of the Gereja Kemah Injil (KINGMI) Papua Church in 2010 Benny Giay was elected chairman of the Synod. In December 2011 he was in that capacity a member of a team of four Papuan church leaders that met President Susilo Bandang Yudhoyono to argue in favor of a dialogue between the Indonesian Government and the Papua people in the presence of a neutral observer.