Jakarta Globe, June 18, 2010
Jayapura. Hundreds of Papuans protested on Friday to reject the region’s special autonomy within Indonesia and demand a referendum on self-determination.
Members of the Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP), an upper house of tribal leaders, voted Monday to reject autonomy status, introduced in 2001 after the fall of the Suharto military dictatorship in Jakarta.
Witnesses said about 1,000 people were marching 17 kilometers from Abepura to the provincial parliament in Jayapura to symbolically “return” autonomy status, which protesters said had failed indigenous Melanesians.
“The Papuan People’s Assembly have made a decision to return special autonomy status to the central government. We’re heading now to the Papuan legislative council to submit the result,” protest leader Markus Haluk said.
“We’ll ask [provincial lawmakers] to hold a plenary meeting to hand it back officially to the central government.”
Protesters carried banners reading “Hold a referendum now”, “Independence is not negotiable” and “Reject Special Autonomy.”
Autonomy status has seen powers including control of most tax revenue from natural resources devolved to the provincial government, but many Papuans say it has failed to improve their rights and dignity.
Foreign media and aid workers are not allowed into Papua and West Papua provinces to independently verify allegations of gross human rights abuses and genocide against the indigenous people.
“The special autonomy has failed to bring prosperity and protection to Papuans. We want a referendum to be held to settle the political status of Papua,” said Haluk, of the Papua Central Highland Students Association.
“We call for a dialogue with the central government which must be mediated by a third party from international bodies.”
Papua has been the scene of a low-level insurgency for decades and despite Indonesia’s vast security presence in the region, Jakarta remains extremely sensitive about any sign of separatism.
Indonesia has sent mixed messages about its willingness to loosen its grip on Papua, offering talks with separatist rebels on one hand while jailing and killing their leaders on the other.
Agence France-Presse
Related Article:
No comments:
Post a Comment