Experts tell govt to establish MRP before dividing Papua

Experts tell govt to establish MRP before dividing Papua

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Constitutional law experts have called on the government to
postpone the division of Papua into three provinces until it
establishes the Papua People's Assembly (MRP), as mandated by the
special autonomy law for Papua.

Sri Soemantri and Jimly Assidiqie warned that failure to honor
the law on autonomy could create problems in the future,
especially considering the strong rejection by Papuans to divide
the province into three.

Jimly from the University of Indonesia asked the government to
be more prudent in managing Papua, considering the sensitivities
involved as well as the contradictions between Law No. 45/1999 on
the division of Papua, then Irian Jaya, into three provinces and
Law No. 22/2001 on special autonomy status for Papua.

"The contradiction is notable. Law No. 22/2001 stipulates that
the MRP should be consulted about any important decision
regarding Papua," Jimly said.

Therefore, Jimly said, the government should established the
MRP first, then consult it over the decision to create three
provinces in Papua.

Sri concurred and said that the government's failure to
establish the MRP indicated that the central government was not
serious about giving special autonomy to Papua because the
presence of the MRP would make the province special, compared to
other provinces in the country.

Sri also said that the MRP should truly represent local
people, as demanded by the law. Otherwise, it would be
meaningless.

The government would then need the MRP's approval for the
planned division of Papua.

Sri noted that the government could not hide behind Law No.
45/1999 on the division of Papua, then Irian Jaya, into three
provinces.

He contended that the special autonomy law for Papua, Law No.
22/2001, was the latest regarding Papua, and therefore had
stronger grounds than Law. No. 45/1999.

"The government under (former president) B.J. Habibie decided
to suspend the policy to divide Papua for the reason that it was
against local aspirations. Then, the next regime promoted special
autonomy for the province as an answer to locals' demands.

"What's going on with the current government then? Has it
established an MRP to hear locals' aspirations about this issue?"
asked Sri, a professor from Bandung's Padjadjaran University in
West Java.

Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno told The Jakarta Post
that one of the government's reasons for dividing Papua into
three provinces was to contain the separatism movement.

Other reasons were to improve the welfare of the local people
and give more opportunities to Papuans to get positions in local
administrations.

"Please don't be emotional in responding to the government's
policy ... There's nothing wrong with it. Trust the government,
we would never make locals suffer," Hari said at his office on
Friday.

But Sri argued: "When I visited the province some months ago,
locals said they had not asked for positions at provincial
offices. They did not ask for more provinces. They just demanded
more regencies."

The government recently increased the number of regencies in
Papua from 14 to 28.