Protests continue on plan to divide Papua

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.