The Jakarta Post, October 21, 2005
Papua's integration into RI final: Dutch lawmaker
Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A Dutch parliamentarian called on the international community to stop questioning the
status of Papua as the territory's incorporation into Indonesia under the United
Nations-sanctioned 1969 Act of Free Choice was final.
"Like Maluku, Aceh and other territories of the Indonesian archipelago, Irian Jaya
(Papua) is an integral part of Indonesia. The Netherlands therefore will not support any
separatist movements," Hans van Baalen said in a seminar held to observe the 77th
anniversary of the Indonesian Youth Pledge here on Thursday.
Van Baalen, a legislator from the Netherlands Party for Freedom and Democracy, was
responding to the findings of the Drooglever study on Papua in the Netherlands and
U.S. House of Representatives Resolution No. 2601, both of which questioned the
validity of Papua's integration into Indonesia.
The study by Prof. Drooglever was commissioned by the Dutch government at the
request of the Dutch parliament to establish the historical facts of what happened in
Papua, and has inspired several non-governmental organizations to question the
formal transfer of what was then Dutch New Guinea through the United Nations to
Indonesia in 1969.
Meanwhile, Resolution 2601, which was endorsed by the U.S. House of
Representatives in July, and is still awaiting approval from the U.S. Senate, would, if
passed, require the U.S. government to seek clarification on a wide range of foreign
affairs issues, including the Papua question.
Hundreds of Papuan people staged a demonstration on Thursday in Jayapura, the
capital of Papua, to protest UN's decision to give Indonesia control of the province in
1963, and approve the result of the 1969 Act of Free Choice, which they said was
undemocratic.
Van Baalen said the Drooglever study should not affect the good bilateral relations
between Indonesia and the Netherlands. Instead, the two countries should enhance
their ties for mutual benefit.
"The Netherlands as a founding member of the EU can be a gateway for Indonesian
products to Europe and can lobby for the abolishing of EU import duties and quotas
for Indonesian products. Indonesia as a co-founder of ASEAN can do the same for the
Hague's interests in the region," he said.
Theo L. Sambuaga, an Indonesian legislator from the Golkar Party, said the
government should work hard to improve the welfare of the Papuan people to help
eliminate secessionist sentiment in the resource-rich province.
"The Papua issue will continually emerge as long as the government does not fulfill its
obligation to ensure development, empower the people and uphold the rule of law in
the country's easternmost province," he said.
According to Theo, the government should speed up development programs to allow
the province under its special autonomy status to catch up with the more developed
provinces.
Jimmy Demianus Ijie, speaker of the West Irian Jaya provincial legislature, blamed
Jakarta's confusing policy for the increasing demands for Papua's secession from
Indonesia.
"The differing powers in Jakarta should sit at a roundtable with all Papuan figures to
seek a comprehensive solution to the Papuan issue, and consistently implement it,"
he said.
He was of also of the opinion that Papua's integration into Indonesia was final "but the
remaining problem is that most Papuans have been treated as second-class citizens
in their own homeland."
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