Not All Of The Damaged Statues Represent The Majority Opinion, In Greenland, For Example

Patung Hans Egede (Twitter / @ HansPKleeman)

JAKARTA - A poll in Greenland was held to determine the fate of the Hans Egede statue in Nuuk City. The result is the antithesis of the destruction of the statue of the Danish colonialist which was carried out in the name of Black Lives Matter (BLM).

Some time ago, a number of people damaged and sold the statue of Egede with the word "decolonization". This action has been interpreted as a mass resistance by Greenlanders to Egede.

However, in an open poll, it was found that the majority of respondents, namely 923 people, chose to perpetuate the existence of the Edege statue. There were six hundred respondents who wanted the statue to be lowered.

"It is not surprising for me to see the final result of the vote being won with the majority of people wanting the statue to remain. But we must not be careless because there is still a large minority who wants the statue to be removed," said Greenland MP Aaja Chemnitz Larsen. , 23 July.

Even so, voting is not the final decision. The local council retains the power to maintain or remove the statue. Even so, Mayor of Nuuk Charlotte Ludvigsen said that at least 75 percent of the votes were needed for local authorities to move the statue.

However, according to the count, there were 23 to 56 thousand Greenlanders who should have been able to vote, but failed. The lack of publication of the agenda which lasted July 3-21 was said to be a problem.

Previously, Greenlanders who participated in the BLM damaged the Egede statue. They perpetuate the action and upload it to various social media. As a result, many Greenlanders supported the movement.

"The Inuit are constantly silenced and never given the opportunity to process the trauma that has been passed down from generation to generation," said a Greenlander who commented on Facebook, Paninnguaq Lind Jensen.

Historically, Greenland was a Danish colony until 1953. However, it was not until 2019 that Greenland was granted self-government autonomy. Thus, Greenland obtained sovereignty including declaring independence from Denmark.

Even so, some Greenlanders are divided into two camps. First those who believe in declared independence as a long term goal. The other side thinks independence is only feasible in the short term given their economic dependence on Denmark.