BY IGGY KIM
SYDNEY — The Indonesian government's decision to divide West Papua into three provinces is a further attack by Jakarta on the Papuan people's right to self-determination, West Papua Institute for Human Rights supervisor John Rumbiak told a February 20 forum organised by the Uniting Church and the Australia-West Papua Association.
On January 27, President Megawati Sukarnoputri issued a decree to implement a 1999 law to divide the province of Papua into three provinces. On February 13, Indonesia's House of Representatives endorsed the decree.
The original law was not implemented due to widespread opposition both inside and outside West Papua. In October 2001, Megawati's predecessor, President Abdurrahman Wahid, introduced a new law enacting special autonomy for the province. This came into effect in January 2002 but has not been implemented under Megawati's presidency.
Rumbiak explained that the division of Papua province into three provinces will increase Jakarta's exploitation and militarisation of West Papua. Each new province will have a separate military command, troop numbers will be increased and there will be more military control over business operations, especially the lucrative resource industries.
The decree has raised social tensions to an explosive point in West Papua, Rumbiak warned. He recounted that on February 18, a pro-division rally of 1300 clashed with thousands of independence supporters in the West Papuan capital of Jayapura. This social tension has been exacerbated by Jakarta's program of bringing in colonial-settlers from Indonesia.
Rumbiak warned that an additional factor is the relocation in West Papua of the military-backed terror gang Laskar Jihad.
From Green Left Weekly, February 26, 2003.
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