On Irian Jaya issue

On Irian Jaya issue

The Page 2 article titled Churches back calls for Irian Jaya
Independence published on Aug. 3 clearly shows that churches
support the movement for Irian Jaya's independence. To clarify
the matter, I feel the need to convey the following:

Recently there has been political turbulence in Irian Jaya,
just like in some other parts of our country. Reform is
substantiated in various ways. As far as the status of the
relationship of a region with the central government is
concerned, some have expressed their desire for the broadest
autonomy possible. Others wish to see the establishment of a
federation, while still others aspire to have independence. This
last-mentioned aspiration was manifested in demonstrations
organized in Jayapura, Biak and Sorong in early July.

As the government and security apparatuses considered these
demonstrations attempts to wrest power, they resorted to violence
when dealing with these demonstrations with the result that some
fell victim to this violent handling. The manner adopted in
handling these demonstrations failed to bring calm but instead
ignited the fury of the Irianese, for quite some time enduring
quietly all kinds of pain inflicted upon them by the government
and security apparatuses, who, these Irianese feel, have treated
them unfairly and cruelly.

What these people wish is that their aspirations may be
peacefully channeled and discussed. Unfortunately, the door,
leading either to the government or to the House of
Representatives, is simply closed. These aspirations will not
disappear by themselves and will not be dampened simply by
suppressing them. As a result, various social groups have taken
the initiative to find the right means to channel these
aspirations. Hence the establishment of the Forum for the
Reconciliation of the Irian Jaya Community (Foreri). This forum
brings together leaders of three churches, community elders as
well as women and university student leaders.

This forum, as it name suggests, seeks to unite various
parties in an open and peaceful manner to discuss various
aspirations evolving in the community. It has been clearly stated
that Foreri is independent in nature in the sense that it does
not take sides with any particular aspiration. The objective the
forum is pursuing is: To monitor and accommodate the pure
conscience of the Irian Jaya community and channel it to the
regional administration, the central government and other
relevant parties. In this way, it is expected that these
aspirations will be peacefully discussed and that violence which
may lead to useless bloodshed may be averted.

It is expected that this explanation may prevent any
likelihood of misunderstanding that the churches support one
particular aspiration, namely the desire to form a state separate
from the Republic of Indonesia.

LEO L. LADJAR

Jayapura Bishop