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.