Learn About the Differences of the Korowai in Papua

The name of the animal used by members of community organizations (mass organizations) and officials to intimidate Papuan students in Surabaya, East Java, in addition to giving birth to a wave of solidarity #kamibukan Monkey, also sparked riots in various cities in Indonesia.

Events in Surabaya are not the first time that has happened to Papuans. Previously it had also occurred in Malang, East Java; Semarang, Central Java; and Yogyakarta. Besides being political, some of the causes are trivial or misunderstood.

Attitudes towards different groups of people tend to lead to rejection or even violence. Yet according to my research, Papuans tend to be open to differences.

Many Indonesian people have the perception of Papuans as people who are difficult to get along with or adapt, and this perception has been strengthened later.

The lifestyle of some Papuans who are still modest is related to the assumption that it is difficult for Papuans to face differences. But really, so?
Koroway that is both sustainable and isolated

In 2017, I jointly researched the Koroway community (Korowai) in Yafulfa village, Boven Digul, in southern Papua with an ethnographic method of preserving traditional architecture of tree houses (luop haim) and understanding traditional practices in the midst of socio-economic dynamics occurring in Papua .

In my research, I also saw how the Koroway inland community could still respect differences even though living in an isolated environment. My research shows that in communities that are still living modestly, they can quite accept differences.

The Koroway tribe only made contact with the outside world in 1978 when they met Dutch missionaries and previously lived scattered in bolup (living areas and hunting grounds according to clans).

Bolup remains as a hunting and gathering area, and is a location to witness a sago caterpillar party or high house.

Even though the Koroway people have felt the remote indigenous community empowerment program from the Ministry of Social Affairs, their lives are still isolated. Limited road access and educational and health facilities.

This isolation creates a unique situation of alienation, so that the process of Koroway people's interaction with the other is not intensive.

Then, did the situation of Koroway people who had very little contact with the outside world make them react violently to something different? My research states absolutely no no.

I along with other researchers went into the forest to see the daily life of Koroway people while in a bolup. On one occasion in a bolup, one member of the research team asked for permission to perform prayers.

Islam is familiar to many Koroway people, but they have never witnessed what Islam looks like and how it is. Islam is something that is completely foreign and clearly different to the Koroway people.

So, how is the reaction? Are my research colleagues then barred from holding their prayer rugs?

Apparently not. Clan leaders invite team members to carry out their worship. The Koroway people treat him with respect.

After the prayer ritual, the Koroway people asked about the ritual they had witnessed for the first time. They concluded, "Oh, just like us; we also worship. It's just a different method. "

In fact, Koroway people can spontaneously look for common ground of differences from that: if we worship, then other people are the same, it's just different. Not a problem.

The spontaneous interaction shows that there is no conflict between traditional patterns of life and patterns of interaction in the context of diversity.
Violence due to differences

In Indonesia, the perception of differences that lead to racism is rarely questioned.

For example, condescending views about Papuans like to get drunk, even about the smell of their bodies is not uncommon. Some of us still see racism towards Papuan students as a normal action.

This is because the sentiment of hatred is often present in issues that are so close and close to our daily lives, so that we do not criticize them and consider them to be normal patterns of interaction.

Yet often this difference in perception can lead to violence.

This is because the government is stuttering in responding racism to Papua.

As a result, negative perceptions of Papuans, according to former National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) member Natalius Pigai, have strengthened in recent years.
The politicization of differences

In essence, human nature or a cultural norm does not determine ethics, as stated by anthropologist from the United States Webb Keane.

Naturally, in our daily lives, there is an urge to treat others equally and ethically, because we realize we want to be treated as such.

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