Police probe sale of controversial atlas
Police probe sale of controversial atlas
Antara/Banjarmasin
A senior police officer has confirmed that Bali Police have
confiscated 59 atlases depicting pictures of the outlawed Bintang
Kejora flag, which symbolizes an independent Papuan state.
The controversial atlases were seized from several bookstores
on the resort island recently, said Sr. Comr. Reniban, the
spokesman of the Bali Provincial Police on Friday.
The atlas has two separate covers, one red while the other is
yellow, titled: Complete Atlas of Indonesia and The World for
Elementary, Junior and High School Students. The 80-page atlas,
is published by publishing company Karya Agung in Surabaya.
The atlas contains a map of Papua, which has been divided into
three provinces, Papua, West Papua and Central Irian Jaya. In the
back of the atlas, it displays dozens of flags from around the
world, one of which is Bintang Kejora with West Irian written
below it, detik.com news portal reported.
Separately, the police also found a similar atlas in South
Kalimantan during a recent raid. The raid was hailed by a top
educator in the province, who later demanded that the police
pursue the case thoroughly and jail the perpetrators if they were
found guilty.
"The publishers have to be questioned thoroughly in line with
the law," the head of South Kalimantan Education Office, Humaidi
Syukri, was quoted as saying by Antara news agency.
The official also said, following the finding, he had reminded
teachers to be more selective and cautious about the possibility
of "the infiltration of teaching materials that may be
detrimental to the nation's integrity."
"Educators should have a sense of anticipation and intuition
when giving lessons to students," said Humaidi.
Papua was earlier controlled by the Netherlands but only in
1962 did Indonesia and the Netherlands agree to place Papua which
was earlier called West New Guinea under UN rule, amid strong
international pressure.
The region was promised a popular vote on its sovereignty, but
was transferred to Indonesian control six months later. Its
status as an Indonesian province was set in 1969 after a popular
ballot was held to determine the area's status. Foreign non-
governmental activists have accused the Indonesian government of
rigging a vote by 1,022 inhabitants on behalf of a population of
around 700,000.
Despite the UN-sponsored vote, the secessionist movement is
still prevalent in Papua until today. A slew of protests
demanding independence have occurred on top of low-key revolts
perpetrated by the poorly coordinated Free Papua Movement.