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.