Indonesia queries PNG policy on separatist rebels
Indonesia queries PNG policy on separatist rebels
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said
yesterday that the government will look into the political
implications of Papua New Guinea's policy of allowing Free Papua
Movement (OPM) leader Moses Weror to maintain his base there.
"We will see what we can do," Alatas said in hearing with the
House of Representatives Commission I for foreign affairs.
Indonesia and Papua New Guinea are committed to their treaty
of friendship and mutual respect, in which the two neighbors
agree not to give sanctuary to troublemakers from either country.
Weror, the first Irian Jaya native to become an Indonesian
diplomat in the 1960s, is the self-proclaimed chief of the OPM
revolutionary council and has obtained Papua New Guinea
citizenship.
He fled to Papua New Guinea in 1971 after serving seven years
and six months in an Irian Jaya jail for his involvement in the
separatist OPM in the late 1960s.
He recently claimed to have direct control of OPM rebels who
have been holding 12 people, including six Europeans, for three
months in the Irian Jaya jungle. He has reportedly ordered that
the hostages be released.
The hostage saga was one of the main topics discussed in the
hearing led by Commission deputy chief Abu Hasan Sazili from the
ruling political grouping, Golkar.
House member Zamharir, also from Golkar, charged that Port
Moresby has breached the friendship treaty by allowing Weror and
other OPM rebels to base their activities on its soil.
"Papua New Guinea has interfered in Indonesia's internal
affairs by allowing OPM rebels to operate within its territory.
The government should file a protest," he said.
Commission member Krissantono of the Golkar faction urged the
government to find out why OPM rebels have been able to cross the
Indonesia-Papua New Guinea border so freely.
The OPM rebels took 26 people hostage on Jan. 8 in the Irian
Jaya jungles of Mapunduma. Since then, 14 have been released and
the rest remain in the hands of their abductors led by Kelly
Kwalik and Daniel Kogoya.
Alatas expressed his belief that the missions of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to help free the
hostages would be more successful than the influence of local
church leaders.
Media reports said that an ICRC team on Monday succeeded in
persuading an exiled Weror to order the captives' release.
The Armed Forces (ABRI) Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Suyono
said that the military is wary of the abductors' promise to free
the hostages due to their many broken promises in the past.
Alatas defended the ICRC's role in ending the kidnapping drama
and denied that the ICRC had acted without consulting the
Indonesian government.
"They always inform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the
Armed Forces headquarters about their activities, including their
mission to Papua New Guinea," he said.
He was responding to legislator Endang Zainal Abidin from the
United Development Party (PPP) who alleged that the ICRC teams
have not been informing the government of their activities.
"They reportedly went to Papua New Guinea and Australia. They
are not transparent about their activities. Was any government
official ever informed of their mission?" he asked.
Meanwhile, Alatas brushed aside Japanese press reports that
Indonesia is one of the Southeast Asian countries to have been
approached by Taiwan for military cooperation in case China
invades the "renegade province".
"Anyone who has a rudimentary knowledge of Indonesian foreign
policy would know that the idea is ridiculous," he said. (pan)