Irian Jaya dialog needed: Rights body

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid must hold a dialog soon on Irian Jaya's problems with all related parties, a rights institution said.

Yohanes Bonay, an executive of the Institute for Human Rights Studies and Advocacy (IHRSTAD) said here over the weekend that the dialog, expected to be held before December, would hopefully settle the lingering problems and prevent further rights abuse in the easternmost province.

Bonay told a media conference on Friday that the Indonesian government had given too much attention to the demand for a referendum in restive Aceh, and had failed to respond to the outcry of the Irianese.

"This indicates that President Abdurrahman's administration has deliberately belittled Irian Jaya's case," he said.

It would be better for the President to invite all related parties, including the Irianese, Indonesian government representatives and international community, to a meeting to find the root of the problem, he said. "The meeting would also seek a solution in a peaceful, just, and democratic way."

The peaceful dialog was urgent because the rights institution saw possible riots happening on Dec. 1 when Irianese hoist the Morning Star flag in the natural resource-rich province.

According to IHRSTAD, the Morning Star flag had been flying in Timika since Nov. 10. Timika is the capital of Mimika regency, where U.S. mining giant Freeport McMoran operates.

Irian Jaya's police chief, Brig. Gen. SY. Wenas, and the province's military commander, Maj. Gen. Amir Sembiring, have said that the plan to hoist the Morning Star on Dec. 1 would be alright. They said that the action was an expression of aspiration.

News on the plan to hoist the Morning Star flag has already spread all over the province, and has been spiced up along the way.

Unidentified people have spread rumors in Arso, a district close to Papua New Guinea, that there would be a war on Dec. 1.

In Jayapura, another rumor has it that if the people's demand for independence was not responded to, the Free Papua Movement would attack there.

"All these news and rumors have brought unrest to all the people living in Irian Jaya," Bonay said. (eba)