More supports flow in for Papua's new provinces

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.