Founding West Irian Jaya province

Neles Tebay, Rome

The central government has announced two new regulations on West Irian Jaya province will be issued. The first regulation will provide the legal basis for the establishment of the province, and the second will regulate revenue sharing between the provinces of Papua and West Irian Jaya. (The Jakarta Post, Nov. 26).

The main reason for drafting these regulations is to push through and establish on firm legal ground the existence of West Irian Jaya province.

Since West Irian Jaya province already exists without a strong legal basis, the government has to build the legal foundation for the province.

Yet, having a legal basis is not enough.

In accordance with Law No. 21/2001 on special autonomy for Papua, the regulations on the establishment of West Irian Jaya province must be approved by the Papua's provincial legislative council (DPRP) and the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP).

The position of the MRP is more vital because it must approve the formation of any new province created by the partitioning of Papua, even if the central government has already issued the necessary regulations.

The government, then, expects the MRP to be "wise" in deciding on the issue of West Irian Jaya.

By being "wise", they mean the MRP should approve the regulations on the establishment of West Irian Jaya province, since the province already exists.

The thinking on the part of the government is "establish first, formulate a legal basis later". But this kind of reasoning is very dangerous for the country. It could give our leaders the power to do whatever they like, and then justify their actions later by pushing through laws and regulations.

Supporting such reasoning, then, means giving a green light to the government to create new provinces anytime and anywhere they wish, now or in the future, without any legal foundation.

The correct course would be to formulate the legal basis first and then, based on this legal foundation, establish the new province. Not the other way around.

The government should not force the MRP to use the existence of West Irian Jaya province as the basis for judging the regulations on the province's creation, if it is committed to upholding the supremacy of the law.

What then should be the criteria, for both the MRP and the government, in examining regulations on the establishment of a new province in Papua?

The establishment of the MRP was mandated in the Law on Special Autonomy for Papua. According to articles 5 (2) and 20 of the law, the main duty of the MRP is to protect the rights of indigenous Papuans.

Giving this task to the MRP reflects the commitment of the government to protect the rights of Papuans. The government is committed to recognizing the existence of indigenous Papuans, guaranteeing their safety, respecting their rights and providing them a better future.

The protection of the rights of Papuans, then, is and should always be the main criteria for the government in producing policies on Papua.

The Papuans' right to exist is, of course, a fundamental one. For it is about the very survival of the Papuans.

Protecting indigenous Papuans is now more urgent than ever. According to the Papuan provincial administration, the total population of Papua as of the end of 2002 was 2,387,427. Of this figure, 1,241,462 people (52 percent) were indigenous Papuans and 1,145,965 (48 percent) were non-Papuan.

If their right to exist is not protected, indigenous Papuans, already only a tiny minority among Indonesia's total population of 220 million, would be a minority in their own land in less than five or six years.

The protection of the Papuans' right to exist should the main criteria in examining the government regulations on West Irian Jaya province.

The government should support the MRP in conducting a study on the possible impact of the establishment of West Irian Jaya province on indigenous Papuans.

If the study concludes the establishment of the province would threaten the very survival of indigenous Papuans, then the MRP should reject the establishment of the province.

Any such rejection should not be seen as opposition to the central government, for the MRP would only be doing its job as outlined in Papua's special autonomy law.

Instead, Jakarta should support the MRP's position, demonstrating that it is the protector of Papuans' rights.

Some different interpretations would emerge if Jakarta rejected the protection of the rights of indigenous Papuans and used the existence of West Irian Jaya province as the criteria for judging whether or not to approve the regulations on the province.

The government would be suspected of having a bad intention toward Papuans. The establishment of the province might be seen as an attempt by Jakarta to marginalize the Papuans, and therefore indirectly threaten their right to exist.

Some might even see the government as obliterating, slowly but surely, the very existence of the Papuans.

Consequently, people might raise other sensitive issues, such as ethnic cleansing, or cultural genocide, or genocide by process. This, in turn, would create more problems.

In order to avoid this, the protection of the Papuans' right to exist should be used by the MRP to determine whether it will approve the establishment of West Irian Jaya.

The writer is a postgraduate student at Pontifical University of Urbaniana, Rome. He can be reached at nelestebay@hotmail.com.