Irianese mull snub of general election

Irianese mull snub of general election

By Neles Tebay

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya (JP): Irianese groups have threatened to
boycott the June 7 general election if the national dialog with
President B.J. Habibie, planned for Feb. 26, fails to heed their
aspiration for independence.

In fact, "thousands of Irianese has already decided to boycott
the upcoming general election", said Theys H. Eluay, chairman of
the Irian Jaya Traditional Consensus Institute, which strives to
nurture traditional avenues of deliberation among local people.

"The boycott will happen if our aspiration for independence is
not discussed in the dialog," he said on Monday.

Local groups are gauging the aspirations of Irianese on a
variety of issues including autonomy, independence and the
question of a federal state for the mineral-rich province.

Tom Beanal, an Amungme community leader, recently interviewed
residents of Mimika regency and found that only three out of the
13,755 people surveyed wanted autonomy.

"The rest called for Irian Jaya independence," he said.

A survey held by the People for Democracy Group in the
regency of Yapen Warope found 16,281 people for independence.
Autonomy was the preferred option of another 200 while only five
agreed on a federal concept.

The survey covered the eight districts of South Yapen, North
Yapen, West Yapen, Masirei, East Yapen, Angkaisera, Waropen Bawah
and Waropen Atas.

In Manokwari regency, 22 out of 24 districts preferred
independence while the remaining two selected autonomy.

No information regarding polling methods was released.

Irian Jaya Governor Freddy Numberi recently acknowledged that
demands for independence were increasing due to inadequate
attention to the province from Jakarta.

In a related development, 18 members of the Free Papua
separatist movement traveled to Jayapura from their jungle
hideouts in the hope of meeting the chief of the Trikora Military
Command, Maj. Gen. Amir Sembiring.

Sembiring, however, was away in Ambon, Maluku. The delegation
said it would remain at the Ermasita Hotel until the commander
could meet them.

"We want a dialog with him and it must be held at the
provincial legislature," said one of the delegates.

Cenderawasih University rector F.A. Wospakrik welcomed the
separatist activists' initiative to hold a dialog. "They are our
brothers, we should not hate them."

In a similar announcement in Jayapura last week, visiting Army
Chief of Staff Gen. Subagyo H.S. said "they are our brothers,
it's just that they disagree with us. That's why we need to
invite them to sit together and find a common vision, mission and
interpretation on how to develop the province".

Local legislator Bram Kuruwib reminded Habibie that failure to
keep his promised national dialog with Irianese would be an
insult and might drive the locals to take "arbitrary actions".

"The Irianese should be given the chance to directly convey
their aspirations and air grievances about the oppression they
experienced under the New Order regime," he said.

"Neither greater autonomy nor independence is an answer in
itself. Greater autonomy would be useless if roots of the
problems (namely oppression and unfair treatment) remain
unaddressed."

Meanwhile, the World Council of Churches recently called on
the United Nations human rights commission to investigate
reported rights violations in Irian Jaya including arbitrary
arrest, extrajudicial killings, freedom of expression infractions
and socioeconomic rights of Irianese people concerning the
transmigration program.