House urges govt to lobby U.S. over Papua issue

House urges govt to lobby U.S. over Papua issue

Tony Hotland and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The House of Representatives has warned the government to take
all possible measures to block a U.S. Congress bill that
questions the status of Papua province, and called for a more
effective lobbying effort in the U.S.

In a hearing with Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda
on Thursday, members of House Commission I on foreign and defense
affairs stressed that the likelihood that the bill could be
passed into law was high because the U.S. president might not
veto it.

House Resolution H.R.2601, which was recently approved by the
U.S. House, questions the inclusion of Papua into Indonesian
territory following the 1969 Act of Free Choice.

The bill also mentions alleged human rights abuses by the
Indonesian Military (TNI) there, and obliges the U.S. government
to endorse a United Nations investigation into the events of 1969
within 180 days after the bill's enactment.

"This isn't a trivial issue because the possibility of the
bill being passed by the (two chambers of the US Congress) is
there and growing, which would only leave us with the hope that
(U.S. President George) Bush would veto the bill," said
legislator Sutradara Ginting.

He also surmised that the risk would be too great for Bush to
veto it because he was largely dependent on Congress to disburse
funds to finance the war in Iraq.

In the U.S., a bill has to be approved by its House and Senate
first before being endorsed or vetoed by the President, if it is
vetoed it will go back to both chambers and must be approved by a
two-thirds vote in the House as well as the Senate for it to
become law.

Legislator Ade Nasution said the government should not stop
the efforts to lobby the U.S. administration and congress, and
should not to be satisfied with Bush's recent statement that he
did not support any moves to break up Indonesia.

"The fact that a bill proposed by (U.S. senator Patrick) Leahy
was passed into a law should be a lesson," he said, referring to
a 1999 law that slapped a military embargo.

The House is planning to send four legislators to visit the
U.S. for the purpose of lobbying congress this month.

Minister Hassan said the government had received assurances
from significant figures within the U.S. administration and
House, who conveyed that the bill was not getting adequate
support, including those sitting in the International Relations
Committee in the U.S. House.

Hassan said the government would dispatch a team to the U.S.
to explain the Papua issue at the end of this month. They will
hold further talks with other groups in other countries where the
Papua issue was also being discussed, such as Australia, the
Netherlands, South Africa and Pacific island nations.

Hassan also said the support for Papua's independence from
groups in those countries had been erratic as they were also
assessing the government's seriousness in implementing special
autonomy in Papua, including the creation of the Papua
Representatives Assembly (MRP).

Meanwhile, Minister of Home Affairs M. Ma'ruf said on Thursday
that the central government was planning to set up the MRP on
Sept. 27 after a previous June deadline was missed.