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.