Hundreds of Papuans rally against governor's report

Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post , Jayapura, Papua

Hundreds of people staged a rally in the Papua capital of Jayapura on Tuesday to protest the annual progress report presented by Governor Jaap Salossa, citing alleged fraud and irregularities in the report.

The protest by members of the Papuan Youth Front and two other non-governmental organizations, Gerak Mamta and Papua Watch, came as factions in the provincial legislative council gave their final responses to the report.

The demonstrators arrived by bus, truck and motorcycle at the council's building at 10:30 a.m. local time. They carried banners and pamphlets opposing the governor's report.

"The annual progress report is a public deception," read one pamphlet, as it did not detail huge funds allocated by the central government to support the implementation of special autonomy status for the troubled province.

The Papuan protesters demanded that the governor account for the use of the special autonomy funds transparently.

"The special autonomy status funds are very large, but the Papuan people have not enjoyed them. Many new cars belonging to executive and legislative members have started to appear in the streets," one protester said.

This proved that the Papua administration and council did not protect those on low incomes in their development policies, the demonstrators said.

Inside the council building where a plenary session was under way, nine factions accepted the governor's progress report and two others -- the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the Crescent Star Party (PBB) -- had yet to declare their stance.

The Love the Nation Democratic Party (PDKB) faction did not present its response during the session as some of its members rejected the report.

Governor Salossa played down the demonstration against him on Tuesday, saying it was normal in a democracy as the report was related to political issues.

"There has been politicking behind the demonstration to strengthen the opposition against the progress report, and that is normal. However, most councillors have accepted my report," he said.

The protesters dispersed at 3:30 p.m. local time after none of the councillors was prepared to receive them.

On Monday, a similar protest was also held to reject the progress report.

The protesters urged that a joint team of military and police officials, as well as independent auditors, investigate the possible misuse of state funds by the Papua administration.