Papuan council to begin work soon

Papuan council to begin work soon

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Papuan People's Council will begin work on Sept. 2, when the
42 people recently selected to the council are sworn in.

The special committee selecting the council members announced
on Friday the names of the 42 council members, who represent
religious, tribal and women groups. The new members will take
part in a week-long training course from Friday to next Thursday
in the provincial capital Jayapura.

The chairman of the selection committee, Abdul Hakim Ahmad,
said the council would oversee both Papua and West Irian Jaya
provinces.

Set up under Law No. 21/2001 on special autonomy for Papua,
the council has the power to promote the basic rights of Papuans
and to consult with the provincial legislature on the
gubernatorial election.

However, the council is little more than a symbolic
institution with none of the power it was originally promised.
The central government had originally said it would give the
council the power to endorse crucial policies, including the
partitioning of Papua into smaller provinces, before backing away
from this pledge.

This allowed the government of president Megawati
Soekarnoputri to reinstate the decision to divide Papua into
three provinces: Papua, West Irian Jaya and Central Irian Jaya.

The Constitutional Court, however, only upheld the
establishment of West Irian Jaya province as a separate region
from Papua.

Papuan legislature member Jan L. Ayomi said he expected the
immediate inauguration of the Papuan council members now that the
province was preparing for a direct gubernatorial election.

In the absence of the council, the provincial legislature
would scrutinize the gubernatorial candidates and their running
mates.

The local election commission declared five pairs of
candidates had passed the preliminary screening for the election,
scheduled for Oct. 5. They are JP Solossa and Paskalis Kossay
(Golkar Party and the Indonesian Unity and Justice Party),
Constan Karma and Donatus Mote (United Papua Parties Alliance),
Lukas Enembe and M.Mus'Sad (Across Archipelago Parties
Coalition), Barnabas Suebu and Komarudin Watubun (New Papua
Parties), and Dirk Henk Wabiser and SP Inaury (Prosperous Papua
Coalition).

The provincial legislature must complete the administrative
screening of the candidates by next Thursday, before the Papuan
People's Council can endorse them.