Wed, 19 Feb 2003

More supports flow in for Papua's new provinces

Nethy Dharma Somba The Jakarta Post Jayapura, Papua

More than 3,000 Papuans living in remote areas of the Indonesian province demonstrated on Tuesday to demand the formation of a Central Irian Jaya province to speed up development in the impoverished region.

Many of the demonstrators marched hundreds of kilometers from Pucak Jaya, Jayawijaya, Paniai and Nabire to protest at the provincial legislative council compound in Jayapura, capital of the Papua province.

Demonstration coordinators Origenes Antoh and Ishak Wenda held a free-speech forum to raise awareness about their demands, saying the formation of the new province would be the best solution to the Papua issue.

They called on the central government to immediately enforce Presidential Instruction No. 1/2003 to form the new province as was stipulated by Law No. 45/1999.

"The development program in remote areas in the province's center has progressed slowly because of the lack of attention paid by the provincial administration to the region due to the region's distance from the provincial capital," Antoh said.

Thousands of other Papuans in Sorong, Fakfak and Manokwari also staged demonstrations in legislative compounds in the towns, demanding the local administrations implement the presidential instruction on the formation of West Irian Jaya province for similar reasons.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri issued the presidential instruction to enforce the law on the formation of the two new provinces for security reasons, but the presidential instruction has met opposition from influential religious groups who said it was against Law No. 21/2001 on Papua's special autonomy.

Besides the increasing separatist movement initiated by the free Papua Movement (OPM), calls for independence for the country's easternmost province have been on the rise following the collapse of former president Soeharto's repressive regime in May, 1998. The military has given warnings against the separatist movement following the murder of proindependence Papuan figure Dortheys "Theys" Hiyo Eluay on Nov. 11, 2001.

At least seven members of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) are being tried for They's murder at a military hearing in Surabaya, East Java.

The government is yet to investigate the rampant abuse of human rights during the New Order era in the resource-rich province.

The House of Representatives has supported the government's decision to form the two new provinces but it should be done with the an approval of the Papuan Peoples Assembly (MRP) that has yet to be established.

The situation was tense in the legislative compound when the demonstrators were confronted by hundreds of demonstrators opposed to the formation of the new provinces.

The demonstration dispersed peacefully after a meeting with several councillors who pledged to forward their demands to the central government.