Take care when reading President Megawati's lips

Take care when reading President Megawati's lips

Kornelius Purba, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta,
korpur@yahoo.com

People in Papua and Aceh need to learn from Americans about
the proper way of "reading" their leaders' lips.

As a campaign gimmick to convince voters that he would not
raise taxes when he was elected, U.S. president, George Bush Sr.
became famous for his trademark phrase "Read my lips" in 1988.
Later he also used a popular song with the theme Don't worry, be
happy. Bush Sr. however, failed to fulfill his tax promise.

If we compare President Megawati Soekarnoputri's statements
delivered to the people in the rebellious provinces of Papua and
Aceh, we can quickly conclude that we too should be much more
careful when reading her lips. But unlike Americans who may be
more skeptical and take campaign slogans with a grain of salt,
Papuans are among those who remember the promises, especially if
it is made by the highest authority in the land, the President,
and so they will keep waiting for that promise to be fulfilled --
and likely get very upset and continue making demands when they
realize they have been cheated.

In her Christmas message to the Papuan people in 2001, just
one month after she endorsed Law No. 21 on Special Autonomy for
Papua, Megawati commented: "I believe that when the special
autonomy is seriously and wholeheartedly implemented, the dream
of the Indonesian nation, especially the Papuan people, can be
realized."

Shortly after her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) won the general elections, on July 29, 1999 The
Jakarta Post reported that Megawati broke down in tears when she
said she would do her best to stop violence in Aceh.

"When I lead the country, I will not let a single drop of
blood touch Aceh's soil," Megawati said.

"I will give all my love and your Arun (gas field) back so
that Acehnese can enjoy their beautiful land," she said,
referring to one of the largest and most profitable natural gas
fields in the world, in which most of the profits end up in
Jakarta or overseas.

How much should a citizen of those two troubled lands rely on
such sweet promises?

Perhaps the President has forgotten her commitments to them
without realizing the risk of making such a huge promise.

The Papuan autonomy law has now virtually become a meaningless
piece of paper, because the government made a u-turn and now
apparently thinks the law provides fertile ground for the growth
of separatism in the province and thus a threat to the unitary
state of Indonesia. This Sunday, Central Irian Jaya province will
be born and a later two more will emerge, effectively breaking
what is now Papua province into three provinces. In her
instruction No. 1 this year, the President ordered the division
of the province into three which will also comprise West Irian
Jaya and East Irian Jaya. The President has even ignored the name
of Papua -- which the Papuan people prefer -- and returned to the
old name Irian Jaya.

The President probably believes that the creation of more
provinces in the territory will boost efforts to improve
prosperity and progress. Maybe she thinks that such a change will
also end the Papuans' demands for justice over alleged human
rights abuses that have been continuing for decades.

And although the President has clearly betrayed Law No. 21 on
Special Autonomy for Papua, there has not been a peep out of our
normally vociferous legislators. Describing the law as a final
offer for the rebellious province when the House of
Representatives passed the bill in 2001, now the House pretends
not to know what the government, specifically, Minister of Home
Affairs Hari Sabarno, is doing in Papua.

On paper, the government looks very generous in providing
autonomy for the country's easternmost province, like its gesture
to Aceh legalized by Law No. 8/2001 on the latter's special
autonomy. The benefits that the people of Papua were supposed to
enjoy was that they would get to have an indigenous Papuan as
their governor and the appointments of provincial police chief
and head prosecutor must get prior approval from the governor,
thus hopefully ensuring that the Papuans get leaders that they
approve of and respect.

In reality, however, both the Papuans and the Acehnese were
only promised these benefits, but most of them have never been
delivered.

The East Timorese were actually the first unhappy citizens who
were promised special autonomy. But they are clearly luckier than
the people in the above two provinces, because the United Nations
had never recognized Indonesia's claim on the tiny territory,
while Aceh was recognized as part of Indonesia since its
independence in 1945, and Papua/Irian Jaya generally has been
recognized since the 1960s.

Upset that his offer to grant special autonomy did not receive
an enthusiastic response from the East Timorese as he expected,
then president B.J. Habibie hastily agreed to what amounted to an
independence referendum in the territory. At that time Habibie
and all the president's men firmly believed that the East
Timorese loved Indonesia so much that they would vote for his
special autonomy offer, not independence -- hence many were
shocked with the referendum result (about 80 percent voted for
independence) leading to a free East Timor.

As for the Papuans, while they now show strong signs of
acceptance of the promise of autonomy, the government has
conveniently forgotten the existence of the autonomy law.

The special autonomy laws for Aceh and Papua are the product
of the current legislature, with the full involvement of
President Megawati in their deliberation. Former president
Soeharto cannot be blamed for these laws along with all other
things that he is blamed for -- he was not the one offering the
candy, even though most of the alleged human rights abuses
occurred on his watch.

People in the two provinces may now be at a loss as to whom
their complaints should be addressed to and who is still
concerned about their plight. Perhaps they could just write: To
whom it may concern.