Disintegration on doorstep, PPP warns government

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The United Development Party (PPP) faction in the People's Consultative Assembly has warned that the government must be more serious in dealing with the threat of disintegration, referring to separatist movements in Aceh, Papua and Maluku.

Reading the faction's final assessment of the draft decrees and other instruments produced by the Assembly commissions during a plenary session late on Thursday night, the PPP faction spokesman HM Tahir S. said that the government should adopt an approach based on social well-being, as well as religious and socio-cultural aspects.

"This approach must be developed through dialog involving all elements of society so as to reach a uniformity of perceptions in resolving conflicts through peaceful means in the framework of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia," he said as quoted by Antara.

The government has so far been applying a security approach in order to quell separatist movements such as those in the strife- torn province of Aceh in Sumatra, and Papua, formerly Irian Jaya.

The faction urged President Megawati Soekarnoputri to be serious in implementing the Nangroe Darussalam Aceh Law in Aceh and the newly-endorsed Special Autonomy Law for Papua.

The government, Tahir said, should also seriously work based upon well-planned programs to reach comprehensive resolutions to the ethnic and religious conflicts in Maluku, Kalimantan and Poso in Sulawesi.

"Especially for Aceh, we urge all the disputing parties in the province to stop the violence, lay down their arms and go forward to peace talks. Only through this most honorable and civilized way will we be able to solve the prolonged conflicts that have claimed many lives," he said.

On communal violence in Maluku, the faction said that it was no longer a horizontal conflict, but had been exploited by a separatist group who wanted the reemergence of the so-called South Maluku Republic.

The government, it said, should encourage a reconciliation between the disputing factions, rehabilitate damaged facilities, deal with refugees in a humane manner and listen to the aspirations of the Maluku people.

More than 2 million displaced people are now living in camps as refugees -- including those from East Timor -- as a result of the various conflicts in the country.