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of the crisis center for Papua, said the chances were slim for the Papuan people to have the presidential instruction rescinded, because eleven factions, including the second largest in Papua, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) supported the central government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