Ex-inmates from Papua demand freedom

Ex-inmates from Papua demand freedom

R.K. Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura

Hundreds of former Papuan political prisoners and their relatives
demanded independence from Indonesia during a peaceful protest in
the provincial legislative council compound on Thursday.

And in separate developments, Maj. Gen. Mahidin Simbolon,
chief of the Trikora Military Command overseeing Papua (Irian
Jaya), ordered soldiers not to be scared of committing human
rights abuses when quelling separatism in the province.

"We must kill as many of our enemies as possible. Human rights
are something we must not worry about but must consider," he told
a group of soldiers returning to North Sumatra from Papua.

The independence demonstrators were protesting against the
province's integration with Indonesia in 1963, based on the
tripartite New York agreement between Indonesia, the Netherlands
and the United Nations.

"Papuan people declared the territory's independence in 1963
but the former Dutch colonial ruler and the UN supported its
integration with Indonesia in the same year. Indonesia minus
Papua declared its independence on Aug. 17, 1945," Advisory
Council for Reconciliation of Papuan Ex-Political Prisoners
chairman Saul Bomay said as he addressed the crowd.

He said the New York agreement signed on Aug. 15, 1963, was
reached without the approval of the Papuan people.

Saul called on Papuans not to celebrate Indonesia's
Independence Day on Aug. 17, because Papua had its own
independence day.

He said that during almost 40 years of Indonesian rule,
thousands of Papuans who fought for the territory's independence
had been killed and the region's natural resources plundered by
Jakarta without any compensation for the Papuan people.

Celcius Wapay, another former political prisoner, insisted
that independence was the only solution.

"Special Autonomy is not the right answer to the Papua
question. It is only a quick political fix that will never solve
the problem," he said.

The demonstrators, who had pledged not to raise the Morning
Star flag during their rally, dispersed peacefully after meeting
several legislators.

Yance Kayami, chairman of the legislature's Commission A on
public administration and security, pledged to pass on the
demonstrators' concerns to the central government.