Merauke not yet eligible for a province

Merauke not yet eligible for a province

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has yet to consider dividing the mineral-rich
Irian Jaya into several provinces, and efforts to separate the
regency of Merauke will be fruitless, according to Governor Jaap
Salosa.

"It is becoming clear the that efforts to develop Merauke as
initiated by Merauke Regent John Gluba Gebze should not
continue," Salosa was quoted by Antara as saying on Saturday.

"It would be better for the regent to find ways of improving
the quality of life of the people of Merauke by improving their
welfare," he said.

"It's not yet the time for Merauke to separate from Irian
Jaya. Merauke has not yet met standard requirements to become a
province. The most crucial problem in Merauke is the shortage of
qualified human resources. So if Merauke was allowed to separate
from Irian, its leaders would probably be from outside Merauke,"
Jaap said.

Currently only the regent and the speaker of the regency
legislative council are indigenous people, he said. "This fact
has been exploited by locals to create unrest. This is very
dangerous."

It was the central government which planned to divide Irian
Jaya into three new provinces to ensure more equitable development
in the huge territory.

In 1999, the Irian Jaya Legislative Assembly rejected the
policy, suggesting that the process must begin from the village
level and then move up to the district and regency levels.

Jaap said on Saturday that establishing Merauke as a new
province could cause new unrest.

"Why should we do something which will lead to new problems?"
All leaders and officials in Papua should maintain peace for the
sake of provincial development. Regents should be wise and
concentrate on the implementation of the special autonomy law for
the province. It is only through special autonomy the people of
Papua (Irian) will be able to match those of other provinces in
all aspects of life," Jaap said.