Foreign NGO denies backing Papuan independence
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A United States non-governmental organization, the Council of Foreign Relations, denied suggestions on Friday that its planned visit to Papua was aimed at giving support for the province's independence.
The NGO's international advisory board member Jusuf Wanandi said that the visit was pure in its initiative and not upon the invitation of the Papuan Presidium Council (PDP) as mentioned by foreign affairs minister Hassan Wirayuda on Thursday.
The visit was designed, Jusuf said, to provide feedback for the Indonesian government on measures to be taken so that the troubled province remained part of the country.
"The result of our planned study in that province would be submitted to the government," Jusuf told The Jakarta Post.
Hassan said on Thursday that the government would deny entry to the organization, saying that Jakarta did not see the importance for the team to visit the country's easternmost province.
Earlier, PDP claimed that they had invited the U.S.-based NGO to the province on Dec. 13 to assess the conflict situation there.
"We have not been invited by PDP. But it is a known fact that PDP is part of the political reality in Papua and to support the study we need to talk to all sectors there including PDP," Jusuf said.
The team is planning to conduct a study in Papua and to establish a monitoring team to continuously observe the situation in the province.
"The monitoring team will consist of Indonesian people, no foreigners are involved," Jusuf asserted.
Foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said that the Indonesian Embassy in Washington had implicitly told the NGO that the country would deny them entry to Papua.
Jusuf contended that the NGO were concerned to maintain the unity of Indonesia and aimed to support the government in dealing with the separatist movement.
He said that the team would be led by Dennis Blair, former U.S. pacific fleet commander as he was known to the Indonesian Military (TNI).
"We will try to explain the condition to the foreign affairs ministry, and we will delay the planned visit until March next year," Jusuf added.