Govt plays down impact of new study on Papua vote<\/p>\n
Ivy Susanti, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta\/Jayapura<\/p>\n
The government plays down the controversial study by Dutch
\nhistorian Prof. Pieter Drooglever on 1969 vote in Papua, saying
\nthat his report was purely academic.<\/p>\n
\"We view the report as an academic study which is no different
\nfrom other studies on Papua,\" Indonesian Ministry of Foreign
\nAffairs spokesman Yuri Oktavian Thamrin said.<\/p>\n
He said that the Dutch government, despite commissioning the
\nstudy, apparently did not give much support to the idea that
\nIndonesia had orchestrated the vote which saw Papua's integration
\nto Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"The Dutch government recognizes Papua as part of Indonesia.
\nThat's why the substance of the study has no legal or political
\nrelevance to the facts,\" Yuri said on Friday.<\/p>\n
Professor Pieter Drooglever from the Institute of Netherlands
\nHistory in his new book, Een Daad van Vrije Keuze (An Act of Free
\nChoice), detailed how the Indonesian government rigged the vote
\nby more than 1,000 Papuan tribal leaders who supposedly
\nrepresented the territory's population of 700,000.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Papuans supporting the movement for the separation
\nof the province from Indonesia demanded on Thursday the United
\nNations review the controversial vote.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Amris Hassan, a deputy of the House of
\nRepresentatives Commission I on foreign affairs, said the
\ngovernment must be prepared to counter such a finding with solid
\narguments and to establish lobby groups to stop it from becoming
\nan international issue.<\/p>\n
Such a finding was evidence that separatist movements in Papua
\nwere still up and running, Amris said.<\/p>\n
\"The fuss is no longer about the decolonization of Papua, but
\nthe referendum. And these separatists continue to spread the
\nissue through the United Nations, foreign organizations and
\nchurches. We should be careful because we cannot stop them,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) legislator
\nemphasized that quick and effective lobbying should begin at the
\nUN and in influential countries to keep the issue from blowing
\nup.<\/p>\n
Fadel Al Hamid, the secretary of the Papua Tribal Council, a
\nnon-governmental organization, which has often acted to oppose
\nthe government, said that the new finding should open the way for
\na resumption of dialogue between the central government and the
\nPapuan people.<\/p>\n
\"The Indonesian government has always said that the
\nintegration of Papua into the Indonesian territory is final, but
\n(some) Papuan people think there was manipulation in the vote
\nthat led to the integration. The emergence of a third party with
\na new scientific finding, should provide a bridge for the two
\nopposing camps,\" he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.<\/p>\n
He added that the Dutch government could also become a
\nmediator for talks between the Indonesian government and the
\nPapuan people.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-plays-down-impact-of-new-study-on-papua-vote-1447893297",
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