Papua's integration into RI final: Dutch lawmaker

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A Dutch parliamentarian called on the international community to stop questioning the status of Papua as the territory's incorporation into Indonesia under the United Nations-sanctioned 1969 Act of Free Choice was final.

"Like Maluku, Aceh and other territories of the Indonesian archipelago, Irian Jaya (Papua) is an integral part of Indonesia. The Netherlands therefore will not support any separatist movements," Hans van Baalen said in a seminar held to observe the 77th anniversary of the Indonesian Youth Pledge here on Thursday.

Van Baalen, a legislator from the Netherlands Party for Freedom and Democracy, was responding to the findings of the Drooglever study on Papua in the Netherlands and U.S. House of Representatives Resolution No. 2601, both of which questioned the validity of Papua's integration into Indonesia.

The study by Prof. Drooglever was commissioned by the Dutch government at the request of the Dutch parliament to establish the historical facts of what happened in Papua, and has inspired several non-governmental organizations to question the formal transfer of what was then Dutch New Guinea through the United Nations to Indonesia in 1969.

Meanwhile, Resolution 2601, which was endorsed by the U.S. House of Representatives in July, and is still awaiting approval from the U.S. Senate, would, if passed, require the U.S. government to seek clarification on a wide range of foreign affairs issues, including the Papua question.

Hundreds of Papuan people staged a demonstration on Thursday in Jayapura, the capital of Papua, to protest UN's decision to give Indonesia control of the province in 1963, and approve the result of the 1969 Act of Free Choice, which they said was undemocratic.

Van Baalen said the Drooglever study should not affect the good bilateral relations between Indonesia and the Netherlands. Instead, the two countries should enhance their ties for mutual benefit.

"The Netherlands as a founding member of the EU can be a gateway for Indonesian products to Europe and can lobby for the abolishing of EU import duties and quotas for Indonesian products. Indonesia as a co-founder of ASEAN can do the same for the Hague's interests in the region," he said.

Theo L. Sambuaga, an Indonesian legislator from the Golkar Party, said the government should work hard to improve the welfare of the Papuan people to help eliminate secessionist sentiment in the resource-rich province.

"The Papua issue will continually emerge as long as the government does not fulfill its obligation to ensure development, empower the people and uphold the rule of law in the country's easternmost province," he said.

According to Theo, the government should speed up development programs to allow the province under its special autonomy status to catch up with the more developed provinces.

Jimmy Demianus Ijie, speaker of the West Irian Jaya provincial legislature, blamed Jakarta's confusing policy for the increasing demands for Papua's secession from Indonesia.

"The differing powers in Jakarta should sit at a roundtable with all Papuan figures to seek a comprehensive solution to the Papuan issue, and consistently implement it," he said.

He was of also of the opinion that Papua's integration into Indonesia was final "but the remaining problem is that most Papuans have been treated as second-class citizens in their own homeland."