Indonesia to Review Special Autonomy for Papua

Jakarta, Indonesia (News Today) - Indonesia next year plans to review Papua’s special autonomy, a report said Sunday, amid increasing demands for a referendum on the region’s self-determination. The proposed review follows President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s order on Thursday for an audit of special autonomy programmes, amid complaints that they had failed to reduce poverty in Indonesia’s easternmost territory, which borders Papua New Guinea.

“If it’s stagnant and there is no progress, then we have to know why,” Yudhoyono said. “We will conduct an audit to find out what has gone wrong, whether it is the management, the budgeting, the supervision or its efficiency.” He added that, among Indonesia’s 33 provinces, Papua received the most money from the state budget.

The “comprehensive review” would cover areas including the implementation of regional administration and accountability of performance, Home Affairs Ministry official Sumarsono was quoted as saying by The Jakarta Post.

“The parameters of the evaluation are now being prepared,” said Sumarsono, who oversees regional administration and special autonomy matters, adding that the central and Papuan governments would determine the parameters.

In July, thousands of Papuans rallied to urge the provincial parliament to demand a referendum on self-determination and reject its special autonomy. The rally in the regional capital Jayapura urged Papua’s provincial parliament to hold a plenary meeting to declare that special autonomy was a failure, according to protest leader Markus Haluk.

Haluk also said the Indonesian government and Papuans, who are indigenous Melanesians, needed to establish a dialogue, with the UN or a neutral country acting as mediator. An upper house of tribal leaders, the Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP), voted in June to reject the autonomy status, which was introduced in 2001 after the fall of former President Suharto’s military dictatorship in Jakarta.

MRP chairman Agus Alue Alua said an audit would only confirm the central government’s failure in improving people’s welfare in Papua. Papua has gripped by a low-level insurgency for decades and despite Indonesia’s vast security presence in the region Jakarta remains extremely sensitive to any signs 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. Access to the area by foreign journalists has been restricted.

Source : kompas

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