Protests continue on plan to divide Papua changed "warlord" to just "leader" as warlord is very strong and it sounds like he is more of a mediator/diplomat from the rest of the story. AND added 1 clause below, as that is what makes law 21 so important and relevant to all of this, otherwise very little relevance to story.
AND His final quote about not being ready,... lacking human resources... seems odd, doesn't seem to fit with the rest, perhaps check on the context of what he means exactly. Tiarma Siboro The Jakarta Post Jakarta
Representatives of seven tribal groups in Papua urged President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Thursday to revoke her own order calling for the enforcement of a controversial law to the province and demanded that the President apologize to Papuans for the fatal clashes that followed.
Alpius Kogoya, a leader of a coalition of seven tribal groups -- the Dani, Moni, Mee, Damal, Nduga, Amungme and Kamoro -- also warned of renewed clashes in Papua if Jakarta ignores the demands and continues with its plan to divide Papua into three smaller provinces: West Irian Jaya, Central Irian Jaya and Papua.
"Each and every Papuan will only recognize one Papua. We don't care what the central government will give to the local administrations, we only want one Papua," Alpius said here at a press conference to brief the media on the coalition's stance on the matter.
"The President's decision to divide Papua has created disharmony among locals and led to violence...we killed each other, and some of our women were raped," Alpius said.
Alpius arrived in Jakarta a week ago to represent the groups opposing the declaration on Aug. 23 of the Central Irian Jaya province. The creation of the new province triggered bloody clashes between those against and those supporting the new province.
He said that he met with legislators Effendy Choirie from the National Awakening Party (PKB) and Sabam Sirait from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan). Alpius also claimed that the legislators supported the demand for the revocation of the law on the division of Papua.
He was referring to Law No. 45/1999 on the division of the vast Papua, formerly Irian Jaya, and Presidential Instruction No. 1/2003 on the acceleration of the division.
In the meeting with the legislators Alpius was accompanied by Papuan student representatives Jura Kagoya and Raul Kagoya, both representing the Dani tribe.
Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno earlier said the government would proceed with its plan to split Papua despite the controversy, claiming that Law No. 45/1999 provided a legal basis for the policy.
Hari also said that the partition of Papua was necessary for economic and social development in the vast resource-rich territory.
But Alpius said that Jakarta had only added to the problems of the local people, who have yet to enjoy the benefits of the special autonomy law, including better welfare.
The government issued Law No. 21/2001 on special autonomy for Papua but has not yet fully implemented the law, including the establishment of a Papuan representative body to be given the power of deciding to accept law 45 or not.
"We are not ready for too many policies from Jakarta due to our lack of human resources... so please, I ask that the government try to understand this," Alpius said.
Experts have criticized the government's decision to split the province, saying that Jakarta has to involve local participation in its plan to divide Papua to ensure that the policy will not create more problems in the future.