Kuala Lumpur, Jubi – It seems that Papua remains unfamiliar among Malaysians. Some of them thought it is the name of a country instead of a province located in the eastern region of the Republic of Indonesia.
A Malaysian taxi driver, Armahadi bin Saudi said he just heard the name of Papua during conversation with Jubi.
“Papua is a country, isn’t it? Where is it? What currency it has? Is there a Malaysian Embassy there?” Armahadi asked Jubi on Wednesday (12/8/2015).
Jubi told him that Papua is Indonesian province next to Papua New Guinea.
“What? Is it part of Indonesia? I don’t know about this fact. I’ve been to Makassar but I don’t know that Indonesia has a place called Papua,” he said. According to him, as far as he knew Indonesia has only consisted of some provinces located in Java, Sumatera, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Bali and so on.
“There is Malaysian too in Papua? Are people there Malay also?” he asked.
Jubi briefly told him that there’s Malaysians of Chinese origin in Papua. They came to Papua as investor of oil palm plantation. The indigenous Papuans are not Malay but Melanesian. Additionally, many Indonesian citizens from other regions came to stay in Papua.
“Is there oil palm plantation area? Papua is near to Australia, isn’t it? So people could go directly from Papua to Australia. Indigenous Papuans look like this fellow, isn’t it? he asked while point towards Jubi reporter Engel Wally.
This time, Jubi told him though Papua is located near to Australia, but people could not go directly to Australia. They must arrange their visa firs in Jakarta, then fly through Jakara or Bali. “Everything must go through Jakarta? It’s not efficient if must go from Papua through Jakarta,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jubi reporter Engel Wally said it’s normal if Malaysian citizens think Papua is not part of Indonesia, because they might be only familiar with other regions such Java, Sumatera, Sulawesi and Kalimantan. (Arjuna Pademme/rom)
