Papua ready to form two new provinces: Governor

Papua ready to form two new provinces: Governor

Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura, Papua

Unlike religious leaders, Papua governor Jaap Salossa put his
weight behind the recent presidential instruction to split Papua
into three provinces.

"We are ready to split Papua province into three or even four
as long as it is aimed at improving local people's social
welfare, because it is not in contradictory with Law No. 45/1999
on the formation of West and Central Irian Jaya provinces and Law
No. 21/2001 on special autonomy for Papua," he said in a press
conference here on Thursday.

All of the factions in the provincial legislative council
except largest one, the Golkar Party, have expressed their
political support for the proposed formation of the new
provinces.

Jimmy Demianus Ijie, secretary of the crisis center for Papua,
said the chances were slim for the Papuan people to have the
presidential instruction rescinded, because eleven factions,
including the second largest in Papua, the Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) supported the central
government directive.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri issued the presidential
instruction last month to enforce Law No. 45/1999 on the
formation of West and Central Papua provinces.

The leaders of religious groups in the province have also been
at the forefront of the opposition to the presidential
instruction, saying that it was against the special autonomy law
which requires an approval from the Papuan People's Assembly, a
provincial legislative body that has yet to be formed.

Many Papuan people as well as the Golkar party in the province
have expressed their opposition to the presidential election with
warnings that it would increase friction among the people, so
they plan to call for a judicial review with the Supreme Court to
have the House of Representatives annul it.

Salossa indicated that it was not feasible for the central
government to form the new provinces because it was not even
mentioned in the province's 2003 budget.

"Besides, the provincial administration does not allocate any
funds in its 2003 budget to finance the formation of the new
provinces. But, there is no problem should the central government
want to enforce the presidential instruction this year. If the
central government wants to avoid conflict, it should listen to
our proposal," he said.

The governor called on all sides to stay calm in enforcing the
law to avoid any frictions or conflicts and prevent it from
raising new problems in the region.

He said the recent unilateral declaration by political leaders
in Manokwari of West Papua was invalid because so far, the
central government has yet to issue regulations to enforce the
law on the formation of the new provinces.

Florens Imbiri, a member of the provincial legislative
council, acknowledged that almost 90 percent of councillors
supported the formation of the new provinces to speed up the
development program in the region.

"Most councillors have supported the presidential instruction
because the formation of the new two provinces are aimed at
improving the Papuans' social welfare and developing democracy in
the province," he said.

Meanwhile, in Manokwari, Bram Atururi who was appointed as
acting governor of West Papua, said that the formation of the new
province was already final and those who opposed it should be
labeled separatists.

According to him, the people of West Papua covering the
regencies of Manokwari, Fakfak and Sorong, have agreed to form a
new province to speed up development in the new province.

The chairman of the Arfak ethnic youth organization, Abed Arig
Ayok, disclosed that Manokwari had put aside a 100-hectare area
in Sowi-Arfai for the construction of the governor's office in
the town.