Bougainville, A Candidate for the Youngest Country in the World

Referendum Bougainville (dok. SBSNews.com.au)

JAKARTA - Freedom and sovereignty in one's land is the dream of those who feel colonized. Not a few of them had to be won through resistance and diplomatic efforts to realize their goals.

Presumably, that is what the people of Bougainville Island have been doing for a long time. They continued to fight in various ways to produce one vote in a referendum in 2019 to say the words: "Freedom."

Long before, the Bougainville referendum was held on 23 November-7 December 2019. The people of Bougainville only had two choices. Namely, choosing Bougainville as an economic area of Papua New Guinea or becoming an independent country.

In the Bougainville referendum process, 181,067 votes or 98 percent of the people voted for independence. Meanwhile, 3,043 or 3.3 percent of others chose to join the Papua New Guinea autonomous region.

The decision was greeted with great joy by the people of Bougainville. Now, they are truly enjoying the feast of democracy. They are also preparing to wait for the birth of Bougainville as a new country in the Pacific mainland.

"There are tears. Tears of joy and overflowing emotions from the people who have been waiting for independence for a long time. The Pen is always stronger than the sword." said the chairman of the referendum, Bertie Ahern, in the city of Buka as quoted by Reuters, Friday, August 14.

Casted my votes today for the President, Women's (North), Veterans (North) & Halia Constituency (North) Seats. Satisfied with my Choices. Predicting a WIN for my Choices in ALL Seats. God Bless Bougainville! pic.twitter.com/QrAgapr9SF

— SCT Rihatta (@carsadeliza) August 13, 2020

This August, residents of Bougainville are participating in elections. The process is considered important. Because the president and parliament have an important role in negotiating the results of the 2019 referendum.

The Long History of Bougainville

Historically, the island is 1,000 meters east of the capital of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby. This island was discovered by a French explorer, Louis Antoine de Bougainville. It later became a German colony, since the 19th century.

However, Bougainville was able to escape from the grip of German colonialization during World War I, 1914. At that time, Australia succeeded in seizing the island which had once been part of the state of Papua New Guinea.

Lokasi pulau Bougainville

It was all thanks to the Prime Minister (PM) of Australia, Billy Hughes. After the world war, the League of Nations (now the United Nations) surrendered the regulations of Bougainville Island to the Government of Canberra until 1975.

As revealed by Iwan Kurniawan in his writing in Tempo Magazine entitled "Tetangga Baru Bernama Bougainville" (2019), culturally and ethnically, the country is very close to people from the Solomon Islands, rather than Papua New Guinea.

Iwan also quoted a statement from an independent research institute in Sydney, the Lowy Institute, to get an overview of the Bougainville community. According to the research, Bouganinville's identity had been strengthened when German colonialization entered from the 19th century.

“European colonization strengthened Bougainville's identity. That identity took root even more after the Panguna gold and copper mine near Arawa on the island opened in the 1960s. The mine was run by Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL), a subsidiary of Rio Tinto Australia," he wrote.

situasi Bouganiville saat peran dunia| Wikimedia Common

The Peak of Desire to be Free from Papua New Guinea

The presence of gold and copper mines made Bougainville the richest and most developed province in Papua New Guinea in the 1980s. Because of its advancement, the Arawa area already had a variety of public facilities, from hospitals, schools, and well-maintained roads.

Gold mining also contributed 14% of Papua New Guinea's national income and half of its export commodities. However, with the arrival of the mine, the people of Bougainville were not satisfied with the sharing system and employment. 

Quoted from Sukawarsini Djelantik in the book Asia-Pacific: Conflict, Cooperation and Relationships, and Between Regions (2015). In the book, she revealed that the people of Bougainville feel that they should have the right to manage the mine and demand an autonomous region.

In their request for an autonomous region, the people of Bouganiville want decentralization. So, each region can manage natural resources independently. Unfortunately, this desire resulted in separatist movements. It later turned Bougainville into a battlefield of bloodshed.

According to Ubed Abdilah S. in the book Ethnic Identity Politics: Struggle for Signs Without Identity (2002), exemplified the Bougainville ethnonational movement to escape from Papua New Guinea. It was similar to what happened in Myanmar, India, and Indonesia.

"According to one of the pioneers in the study of nationalism, Walker Connor (1972), there are around 135 countries in the world. But, only 19 has no ethnonational problems. The basis of the separation movement generally is differences in language, cultural values, regions, being economically neglected, and the existence of opposition from the central government which is dominated by the majority,” said Ubed.

They had proclaimed Bougainville's independence in 1990. However, it was at the end of 2019 that the people of Bougainville could held a referendum and would be independent of Papua New Guinea at the end of 2020. The national anthem entitled "My Bougainville" also accompanied the birth of Bougainville as a country.