Papua split final, official says

Papua split final, official says

JAKARTA: The government will not review its decision to create
a new West Irian Jaya province, a top official said on Wednesday.

"The decision is final following the issuance of a home
ministry decree on the appointment of the acting governor of the
province," the home ministry's secretary-general, Siti Nurbaya,
said after a seminar.

She said an administrative court's ruling that urged the
government to cancel the appointment of the governor, Abraham O.
Atururi, was not legally binding because the government had
appealed the verdict.

The court ruled in June that Presidential Decree No. 213/2003
appointing an acting governor of West Irian Jaya was contrary to
a 2001 law on special autonomy for Papua. --Antara