The Jakarta Post, November 18, 2004
Another fine mess in Papua
The Constitutional Court could not have come up with a worse decision when it ruled
that the carving of Papua into three provinces was illegitimate while also recognizing
the presence of the new West Irian Jaya province as a fact of life. This ruling is sowing
more confusion into an already confused state of affairs in Papua.
The source of this latest controversy is a January 2003 instruction by then President
Megawati Soekarnoputri to establish three new provinces out of Papua as mandated
in a 1999 law enacted during the administration of President B.J. Habibie.
But this law, according to the Constitutional Court, was effectively annulled when
Megawati enacted in November 2001 the special autonomy law for Papua. The court
deemed her instruction for the creation of West Irian Jaya, Central Irian Jaya and
Eastern Irian Jaya provinces as equally invalid.
But the court said it also recognized the presence of the West Irian Jaya province
because the regional apparatus -- an administration, and an elected legislative council
and the region's elected representatives to the People's Legislative Assembly in
Jakarta -- had been created. The court ruling, however, puts a stop to the creation of
the other two new provinces.
Going by the Constitutional Court ruling, we are now left with two provinces in the
western half of the New Guinea Island: West Irian Jaya covering the Bird's Head
region of the island, and Papua, covering the eastern and heartland of the Papua
territory.
Also going by the court ruling, West Irian Jaya is considered an illegitimate province.
Here is a province that was conceived by Habibie and born into this world, with some
inducement, during Megawati's presidency. It is now left to President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono to raise this illegitimate child. Such an awkward status is bound to haunt
the province in years to come.
The court ruling has also left many unanswered questions.
What happens to the special autonomy law which treats Papua as one single
province? Would the Papuan People's Council, whose creation is mandated under the
special autonomy law, have the authority to speak on behalf of West Irian Jaya too?
Or, God forbid, would the Papuan people have to negotiate all over again to secure a
new legislation for its special autonomy status?
Time will tell how Papua and West Irian Jaya will emerge out of this huge mess.
But this episode confirms what many Papuans believe or have long suspected: that
Jakarta is bent on interfering in the affairs of Papua, even as it promises to give
greater autonomy to this backward but resource-rich province. The status of Papua as
a special autonomous region today is only in name.
This is a problem that could have been prevented had Megawati heeded appeals from
Papuans in 2003 to stop the process of establishing the West Irian Jaya province. The
fact that she went ahead with this "divide-and-conquer policy" suggests some hidden
agenda on her part, or on the part of parties behind the move.
Papuans will now turn to President Susilo to resolve this issue in the best possible
way. In the October presidential election Papuans overwhelmingly voted for him
instead of Megawati. He owes them that much. Let's hope he will not disappoint
them.
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