House team to lobby U.S. congress on Papua issue

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives plans to send a four-member delegation to the U.S. to lobby congress in an attempt to block passage of a bill that raises questions about the status of Papua.

The head of the House's inter-legislative cooperation body, Amris Hasan, said on Monday the team, whose members had not yet been selected, would leave for Washington sometime in mid-August.

He said the team's mission was to provide U.S. congressmen a better understanding of the history of Papua.

"I am certain the U.S. congress has received wrong information (about Papua) that is not based on historical facts and which has led to this misunderstanding," he said.

The bill on Papua raises questions about the status of the resource-rich province. If passed into law, the bill could increase international pressure for the Indonesian government to allow the people of Papua to vote on independence.

Amris also urged the government to lobby the U.S. to help block the bill's passage.

Meanwhile, some Indonesian legislators blamed these latest developments on the government's failure to fully implement special autonomy for Papua, leading to growing demands from within the province for independence.

"There are voices on the ground questioning the government's seriousness about implementing full autonomy there .... We know that Papuans, independence fighters in particular, have strong connections with international communities," said Regional Representatives Council (DPD) deputy La Ode Ida.

He said several DPD members representing eastern provinces, including Papua, held a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono some time ago to discuss the growing calls for an evaluation of the special autonomy for Papua, but they were not taken seriously.

"The government has ignored requests for a national dialog with Papuans on the issues of ongoing economic injustice and poor law enforcement. Are we going to wait until we have another Aceh?" La Ode asked.

A member of House Commission I for security and international affairs, Marzuki Darusman, said the government must begin to introduce better policies in Papua with the growing international attention and support for the independence of the province.

"The most urgent thing is for the government to instill a sense of fairness and justice among the Papuan people," said Marzuki.

For decades, particularly during the more than 30-year rule of authoritarian president Soeharto, the central government has been accused of plundering the natural resources of Papua, while ignoring the economic development of the province.

The government and the military have also been accused in the past of human rights violations in Papua.

Since its independence in 1945, Indonesia has stipulated that Papua is part of the unitary state of Indonesia, although the province remained under the rule of the Dutch until 1962.

The central government granted special autonomy to Papua in 2001 to help curb separatist movements in the province.