Irianese leader protests police chief's remarks

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya (JP): A community leader here demanded on Monday that police chief Brig. Gen. Hotman Siagian retract his announcement last week banning the dissemination of a demand for independence Irianese representatives delivered recently to President B.J. Habibie.

Theys H. Eluay said Hotman must retract his announcement within one week.

"The people's desire for an independent West Papua has been delivered openly to the President and that is not a secret thing," Theys said in a media conference.

Irian Jaya leaders told President B.J. Habibie on Feb. 26 that they wanted to be the masters of their own land, while at least one tribal chief declared his wish outright for the province to become an independent state.

In the meeting, Irian Jaya Governor Freddy Numbery cited the growing demands for real autonomy, and for strategic bureaucratic positions to be given to Irianese. He argued there was a sufficiency of educated local people.

Numbery said Irianese people feel they have been ignored for 35 years, while they have seen outsiders appointed regents and heads of government agencies.

Police have recently said that separatist elements in Irian Jaya were waging a campaign to disrupt the June 7 elections.

Reports said local separatists were planning a mass rally to declare the founding of the Western Papua state in Sorong on April 24 and April 25.

The former Dutch colony of Western New Guinea, which shares a land border with independent Papua New Guinea, became the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya in 1963, with UN recognition of the incorporation six years later.

The mainly Melanesian Christian province has since witnessed the struggles of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) for an independent West Papua state.

Following the government offer of independence for East Timor, other provinces have starting testing the waters, and have put forward their own demands for either autonomy or independence.

In Aceh, where the separatist movement has been simmering for years, many people have demanded a referendum.

AFP reported from Lhokseumawe, Aceh, on Monday that residents of several villages raised separatist flags over their homes, a day after the flag figured prominently in a mass rally there, a witness said.

In the colorful rally on Sunday hundreds of people, including scores of young children, paraded through the city's main avenue for several hours, cheered by an equal amount of onlookers.

"This was the first time ever that the independence flag has been openly displayed," a resident said on Monday.

"Today most homes in the villages in the northern Aceh district are flying the separatist flag," he added. The flag has a bright red background contrasting with the white crescent and star symbol between two thick black horizontal stripes. (34/byg)