The Jakarta Post, January 12, 2006
Leaders slam government plans to split Papua
Tiarma Siboro and Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A government's plan to go ahead with an earlier administration's plan to split the
province into five has met with strong opposition from Papuan leaders.
The leaders were responding to the government's determination to go ahead with the
plan, despite an Supreme Court ruling that the split was unconstitutional.
Papuan leaders met in Jakarta on Monday to witness the installment of the new
acting governor for the province, Soejuangan Situmorang.
Situmorang, a former director general at the Ministry of Home Affairs, is replacing the
late J.P. Salossa, who died in office late last year.
In a press conference, several influential Papuan figures called for the central
government to promote dialog with locals about the issue.
House of Representatives Golkar legislator Simon Patrice Morin said the government
should explain to Papuans why it was still insisting on splitting the province into
smaller territories. That move undermined Special Autonomy Law No. 21/2001, which
stated that all authority to demarcate the province was in the hands of the Papuan
People's Council (MRP), Simon said.
Former Papuan governor Barnabas Suebu suggested Sodjuangan, as the new
governor, clarify the status of the province. This was especially important since a
Netherlands report made public last year called the 1969 plebiscite making Papua
part of Indonesia a sham.
"Why does the government seem to have a hidden agenda in Papua ... (Why has it)
committed so many violations of the law, including the special autonomy law," he
said.
After the ceremony, Papuan representatives held a meeting with Vice President Jusuf
Kalla.
At the meeting, Kalla agreed that neither central government nor the acting governor
could make any policies regarding the planned division of Papua into smaller
territories, pending the election of a definitive governor, which will be held in March at
the latest.
The meeting took place amid increased protests over the planned creation of West
Irian Jaya province.
Moves to separate the province into three smaller provinces began when former
president Megawati Soekarnoputri issued Decree No. 1/2003 to reinforce Law No.
45/1999 on the division of the province into three provinces. Megawati's government
did little to explain this divide-and-rule policy, apart from saying it was done for
security, political and economical interests.
The move has been rejected by locals because it runs against the special autonomy
law, which stipulates any policies regarding Papua should go through the MRP -- a
legislative branch established in late 2005.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has also set up a plan to divide two northern-tip of
Sorong and Merauke into two more provinces.
"If the government refuses to hold a comprehensive dialog with us, I guess we should
file a class action against the government because it has violated the law," a legislator
Rev. Karel Phil Erari said.
All contents copyright © of The Jakarta Post.
|
