Thom Wainggai

Political views Dr. Thom was involved in politics as at an early age. As a young man, he watched West Papuans fight against the Indonesian occupation of their land since 1969. In 1988, as one of the West Papuan respected leaders, he began to teach a new ideology: he taught that West Papuans are Melanesian people who are entitled to self-determination. Dr. Thom channeled the frustration of the people of West Papua over the legality of Indonesian occupation of their lands. In his view, the manner in which West Papua was handed over to Indonesia was highly unfair, grossly unjust, and illegal based on International Human Rights laws and conventions. Dr. Thom, a trained lawyer did refuse to hide his disdain and dissatisfaction toward Indonesian occupation of West Papua and determined to fight against Indonesia through logical and legal arguments. He used his knowledge of international statues to challenge the legality of Indonesian occupation of West Papua, but during the Suharto regime, it was a war he couldn't win without losing his own life.

James Vorendberg of Asia Watch explained the kind of country Indonesia was – and continues to this day – during Dr. Thom's time: Indonesia, ostensibly a Democracy, is in fact an authoritarian state where real decision-making power rests with President Suharto and the Indonesian military. Presidential decrees and administrative regulations are the major source of law, and the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR), the national parliament dominated - though appointment and electoral procedures - by the ruling party, GOLKAR (Golongan Karya, literally "functional groups"), serves more as a forum for discussion of national issues than as a legislature. A new flag was raised featuring 14 stars with three coloured bars of black, red and white.

Trial Since the Suharto regime rose to power in the 1967, the rights of all citizens were never protected; instead, they were discarded whenever they run counter to the will of the regime. In 1989, Dr. Wainggai found himself in the same predicament.

In April 1989, Papuans gathered to witness Dr. Thom, hailed by some as one of their heroes, taking on the full force of the Indonesian jurisprudence. According to Asia Watch, Dr. Thom was tried by the district court in Jayapura, in the months of April and June, in hearings that defied commonsense as it became transparent even to the unlearned that the Indonesian government (court) were pursuing long prison term against Dr. Thom even if it means violating common civil rights he was entitled to it. The court room was packed as indigenous people gathered to hear the proceedings. In June, however, the numbers of Papuans who showed up fell dramatically because of political intimidation; police fired in the air and attendees were subjected to physical rough inspection. It is obvious from this Asia Watch report that the Indonesian government wanted to convict Dr. Wainggai at all costs, even if means bending and ignoring his rights to a fair trial. The report summed up the trial this way: "The Trial was marked by the irregularity that characterized all Indonesian political trials, including restricted access by lawyers to their client, insufficient materials to prepare the defense, failure to call defense witnesses and limited time for cross examination."

Since the Indonesian government did not provide adequate explanation as to the true cause of Dr. Thom's death, relatives in Irian Jaya believed that he died from poisoning - a position that the Council on Foreign Relations echoed in its findings while investigating the issues of West Papua.

According to reports, Dr. Thom returned from the United States in late 1987 and worked as a lecturer at the Cenderawasih University. He was also elevated to a senior position in the provincial planning office in Jayapura. What triggered his radical move to declare West Papua an independent state remained a debatable issue. It is also debatable why he only planned with a few people prior to the demonstration at Mandala Stadium where he was arrested. Some suggested that Dr. Thom may have been unhappy and decided to take his personal anger to the national arena. Sidney Jones of Asia Watch provided a possible explanation for Dr. Thom's decision. According to Sidney, Dr. Thom had a personal goal that was to lead Irian Jaya as governor. In 1987, he garnered enough support to run as a candidate in the 1987 governor's election. Unfortunately, he only received a few votes by the Regional People's Representative Council (DPRD, provincial parliament) of Irian Jaya. Sidney pointed to a popular view that he may have taken his personal dissatisfaction too far. This view suggested that Dr. Thom's decision to declare West Melanesia as an independent state came to being after the election, however, it didn't explain why Indonesian locked Dr. Thom up when he returned from Okayama University, for six months years back. It seems that Dr. Thom had held this position prior to 1987.

Another "theory" which emerged after Dr. Thom suddenly died in jail, after only serving only nine years of his 20 years prison term, is that the Indonesian authority poisoned Dr. Thom. This theory is also widely accepted by authors and foreign reporters as the cause of Dr. Thom's death. For instance, Denise C. Blair and David L. Philips wrote that Dr. Thom died in prison from "food poisoning" in 1996. However, they failed to provide evidence to support that claim. Furthermore, the materials available contain little substantive evidence to support this claim. It may have emerged as West Papuans tried to make sense of what happened to their leader. On the other hand, Indonesia's explanation also seemed sketchy. To this day, it remains somewhat vague to say with all certainty that Dr. Thom died of food poisoning; there must be hard-evidence to support this claim, so far, there's little.