The Jakarta Post, September 03, 2005
House urges govt to lobby U.S. over Papua issue
Tony Hotland and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The House of Representatives has warned the government to take all possible
measures to block a U.S. Congress bill that questions the status of Papua province,
and called for a more effective lobbying effort in the U.S.
In a hearing with Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda on Thursday, members
of House Commission I on foreign and defense affairs stressed that the likelihood that
the bill could be passed into law was high because the U.S. president might not veto
it.
House Resolution H.R.2601, which was recently approved by the U.S. House,
questions the inclusion of Papua into Indonesian territory following the 1969 Act of
Free Choice.
The bill also mentions alleged human rights abuses by the Indonesian Military (TNI)
there, and obliges the U.S. government to endorse a United Nations investigation into
the events of 1969 within 180 days after the bill's enactment.
"This isn't a trivial issue because the possibility of the bill being passed by the (two
chambers of the US Congress) is there and growing, which would only leave us with
the hope that (U.S. President George) Bush would veto the bill," said legislator
Sutradara Ginting.
He also surmised that the risk would be too great for Bush to veto it because he was
largely dependent on Congress to disburse funds to finance the war in Iraq.
In the U.S., a bill has to be approved by its House and Senate first before being
endorsed or vetoed by the President, if it is vetoed it will go back to both chambers
and must be approved by a two-thirds vote in the House as well as the Senate for it to
become law.
Legislator Ade Nasution said the government should not stop the efforts to lobby the
U.S. administration and congress, and should not to be satisfied with Bush's recent
statement that he did not support any moves to break up Indonesia.
"The fact that a bill proposed by (U.S. senator Patrick) Leahy was passed into a law
should be a lesson," he said, referring to a 1999 law that slapped a military embargo.
The House is planning to send four legislators to visit the U.S. for the purpose of
lobbying congress this month.
Minister Hassan said the government had received assurances from significant figures
within the U.S. administration and House, who conveyed that the bill was not getting
adequate support, including those sitting in the International Relations Committee in
the U.S. House.
Hassan said the government would dispatch a team to the U.S. to explain the Papua
issue at the end of this month. They will hold further talks with other groups in other
countries where the Papua issue was also being discussed, such as Australia, the
Netherlands, South Africa and Pacific island nations.
Hassan also said the support for Papua's independence from groups in those
countries had been erratic as they were also assessing the government's seriousness
in implementing special autonomy in Papua, including the creation of the Papua
Representatives Assembly (MRP).
Meanwhile, Minister of Home Affairs M. Ma'ruf said on Thursday that the central
government was planning to set up the MRP on Sept. 27 after a previous June
deadline was missed.
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