Dispute over Papua continues despite ruling

Dispute over Papua continues despite ruling

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Leading Papuan figures said the establishment of West Irian Jaya
province as a province from Papua was still the subject of heated
controversy despite the Constitutional Court's ruling upholding
the split.

Papua Governor Jaap P. Solossa said on Friday the ruling,
which it was hoped would end the controversy, had instead created
more problems.

He said the Papuan people were suffering as a result of the
split as the central government had deducted autonomy funds that
would have gone to Papua and given them to the new province. The
Papuan provincial government was resolutely opposed to Jakarta's
policy, Solossa added.

The central government has paid an average of Rp 2.3 trillion
in autonomy funds to the natural resources-rich province since it
was accorded special autonomy in 2001.

The central government's reluctance to establish the Papuan
People's Council (MRP) had also fueled tension in Papua, Solossa
said.

The Papua Special Autonomy Law (No. 21/2001) provides that the
council should serve as a consultative body. However, the
previous government of Megawati Soekarnoputri decided to amend
the law in order to reduce the council's status to a mere
cultural body.

Megawati's government established West Irian Jaya province
despite the fact that the council had not yet been set up. The
Papua provincial government filed for a judicial review of the
decision with the Constitutional Court, which ruled that the new
province was legal.

"Who can guarantee it (the controversy) is already after the
court ruling over and people will not oppose it?" Solossa said
after a meeting with the Constitutional Court head Jimly
Asshiddiqie, the home affairs ministry's Director General of
Regional Autonomy, Progo Nurdjaman, West Irian Jaya Governor Bram
Atururi and House of Representatives councillors from both Papua
and West Irian Jaya.

Papua legislative council deputy speaker Pascalis Kosay agreed
with Solossa, saying the central government was responsible for
the prolonged dispute.

"To settle the dispute, the government must establish the MRP
for Papua soon," he said.

Atururi, meanwhile, insisted that the people of West Irian
Jaya had no problem with their separation from Papua.

"We don't have any problem, they do," he said, referring to
the government of Papua province.

Jimly said the residual problems resulting from the carving up
of Papua into a number of provinces would have to be settled by
the government. However, Progo refused to comment on the issue.

A number of constitutional law experts criticized the ruling
by the Constitutional Court for its ambiguity. The Court annulled
West Irian Jaya/Central Irian Jaya Province Establishment Law
(No. 45/1999), but said that West Irian Jaya should continue in
existence as the administrative infrastructure was already in
place.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is scheduled to
celebrate the New Year in Papua, has ordered the immediate
establishment of MRP, but underlined that the council would act
solely as a cultural symbol of the country's easternmost
province.