When it came to peace in Papua, Muridan Widjojo was passionate and dispassionate at the same time. He lobbied for dialogue as if his life depended on it.
At the same time, the scholar in him knew that a successful campaign had to be based on thorough analysis, practical ideas and long hours building allies and coalition partners.
He was a master of all three. The problem was that Papua needed more time than cancer allowed him.
Muridan died from complications from throat cancer at Mitra Keluarga Hospital in Depok, West Java, on Friday. He was 46.
There was another problem, too. Muridan was Javanese, born in Surabaya, yet working in Papua where anti-migrant sentiment in the activist community runs high.
Unbridled in-migration from elsewhere in Indonesia has made many Papuans fear that they are becoming a minority in their own land and that this is part of a deliberate government strategy to weaken support for independence.
Muridan turned his non-Papuan status into a strength. He got non-Papuan audiences in Jakarta, from members of the House of Representatives to senior bureaucrats, to understand that past policies were not working, and that the government in Jakarta needed to address not only economic development but political problems and historical injustices as well.
He was adamant that marginalization of indigenous Papuans had to end, but he also understood that any long-term solution in Papua required a modus vivendi between Papuans and non-Papuans. He was deeply committed to Papuan empowerment but not at the price of racial exclusivism that would deny rights to non-Melanesians.
More than anything, he wanted Papuans and government officials to talk and listen to one another. The 2009 "Papua Road Map" that he and his LIPI colleagues produced showed what the substance of that conversation could be.
The next step was to get a group together that could speak on behalf of as a broad a spectrum of Papuan civil society as possible — thus the Papua Peace Network, led by Rev. Neles Tebay, was born. It is thanks in part to Muridan that the word "dialog" in relation to Papua is no longer taboo.
There have been setbacks on the way to overcoming decades of distrust and hostility between Jakarta and Papua, but one of Muridan's most endearing qualities was his optimism.
Like any visionary, he believed that good ideas would eventually bear fruit. He knew that that addressing the complex set of issues we call the "Papuan conflict" was never going to be easy, but he was not discouraged by losing a few battles any more than he was discouraged by an aggressive throat cancer that he held at bay for a while but which eventually consumed him.
The best way to honor Muridan and everything he stood for is to continue his work for peace through dialogue. Understanding Papua in as much depth as possible is a prerequisite.
In Jakarta, every presidential candidate should go back and read the Papua Road Map. Many of the basic problems — political violence, lack of accountability for human rights violations, failed development and marginalization — have not changed, even if the context is even more complex than it was five years ago.
The candidates should make sure that they are familiar with the latest draft of otsus plus, the proposed "reconstruction" of special autonomy that the current government has committed to trying to push through parliament before President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono leaves office.
And, if elected, they should be prepared to undertake a review of Papua policy with a review toward formulating a new approach that is derived at least in part from consultations with different cross-sections of the Papuan public.
Muridan Widjojo, with his ever-present quirky cap and that unquenchable optimism, has become the icon of peace for me as much as our beloved Munir became the icon of human rights.
He was a wonderful Indonesian, a good friend, and the best of human beings. The best way to honor his memory is to not just talk about solving conflict, but do it.
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