ABSTRACT
This chapter takes a historical look at the development and (re)valuation of Papuan
Malay (PM) in the Indonesian province locally knows as “Tanah Papua”. Drawing inspiration from work on enregisterment, and language and the market, we focus on the emergence of PM as a trade language and then follow numerous regimes (Dutch and Indonesian), and their effects on the social value of PM. We point out that since 2001, when Indonesian underwent radical political and fiscal decentralization, PM started to be used in multiple social domains in Tanah Papua. Our empirical focus is films and television broadcasts, although we also point to other social domains where PM is now regularly found.
