Students end hunger strike

Students end hunger strike

INDONESIA: Seven students grouped in the West Papuan Students'
National Front (FNMP) gave up their hunger strike on Saturday due
to health concerns, but vowed to boycott the 2004 general
election in the troubled province should the government fail to
reveal the truth behind the killing of separatist Papuan leader
Theys Hiyo Eluay and hold a referendum on self-determination.

The decision to end the strike came after two students, Robert
Manaku of the Semarang-based Catholic University in Central Java,
and Vivi Erari of the Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University,
were rushed to Cikini Hospital in Central Jakarta due to
dehydration after almost three days on hunger strike.

The hunger strike was organized to protest the government's
uncertain policies on Papua and to condemn the ongoing
investigation into the murder of Theys, who was also the chairman
of the Papuan Presidium Council (PDP), and who was found death
hours after being abducted by an unknown group in November last
year.

Many believe that a unit of the Army's Special Force
(Kopassus), which is stationed at Hamadi in the Papuan provincial
capital of Jayapura, was involved in the murder.

"The military's violence continues in our land, while the
government just stands by watching it. There's no other way for
us to stop it except to ask for a referendum to determine the
future of the Papuan people," FNMP spokesman Charles Imbir told a
media conference at the National Commission on Human Rights'
offices in Central Jakarta. -- JP