Orang Papua 2

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Wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa... une vieille femme me serre les avants bras et me regarde droit dans les yeux. Je lui repond, un peu hesitante, de la meme facon en soutenant son regard. Elle me sourit a pleines dents.
Les liens sont tisses serres chez les Papous de la vallee de la Baliem. Qu'ils soient Dani ou Yali, ils se saluent tous chaleureusement lorsqu'ils se croisent sur les sentiers. Une poignee de main et un bonjour sont pratique courante. Salamat pagi le matin, siang l'apres-midi, sore en fin de journee et malam le soir. D'autres se saluent en dialecte local: wa, ya ou encore neroup specifiquement pour les femmes, naya pour les hommes, nopase pour les aines et naosa pour les ainees. Cette differentiation des genres peut mener a confusion comme ce fut le cas lors de notre passage au village de Yuarima. Invites a la pendaison de cremaillere du nouveau 'honai' (maison traditionelle) de l'oncle de Kanak, notre guide, j'ai bien fait rire les hommes quand je les ai salue en repetant leurs salutations a mon egard:"neroup". Ca m'a pris quelques instant pour realiser mon erreur et me reprendre en riant:"naya"! Ces liens sont encore plus forts lorsque les gens croisent des membres de leur parente ou de leur village. Plusieurs vont se serrer dans les bras. John, notre porteur/cuisinier, travaille aussi comme aide a la clinique de son village, Kiroma, et distribue les medicaments se rendant meme dans les villages voisins qui n'ont pas de cliniques. Il est ainsi bien connu et aime dans la region. Ca se voyait a la facon dont les gens le saluaient, prennaient de ses nouvelles et lui racontaient les dernieres nouvelles.
Il faut dire que les papous ressentent un grand besoin de se serrer les coudes car ils font face a une colonisation importante par le pouvoir central. Jusqu'en 2015, Jakarta, par l'entremise du programme de transmigration, a encourage l'etablissement de javanais, balinais et madurais en Nouvelle-guinee occidentale (Papouasie et Papouasie occidentale). Le ressentiment est grand chez les papous car ils sont souvent traites comme des etres inferieurs. Les membres des tribues de la vallee se definissent comme papous en contraste avec les transmigrants qu'ils appellent "les indonesiens". Le sentiment independentiste est fort et plus affirme ici. A preuve, le cri de ralliement: Papua Merdeka (Papua libre) lance a la fin d'une fete religieuse a Wamena. Le defi est grand, mais la volonte populaire semble l'etre autant chez ce peuple tisse serre.

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