High poverty rate in Papua to encourage separatism

from The Jakarta Post

JAKARTA (Antara): Two formal Papua leaders have said the separatist movement in Indonesia's easternmost province is likely to grow because of the high poverty rate there which had now reached 83.3 percent.

Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu and Papua ProvincialLegislative Council (DPRD) Chairman John Ibo sounded the warning at a hearing with the Regional Representatives Council (DPD)'s Papua Committee here Friday.

The two Papua figures also called on the central government to pay serious attention to the problem.

"It is ironical that many Indonesian people have to live in absolute poverty in the potentially affluent land of Papua," Barnabas said at the hearing chaired by the DPD Papua Committee chairman, Alexander Edwin Kawilarang.

Both Barnabas Suebu and John Ibo said if the people of Papua remained poor or continued to impoverish, secession from the Unitary State of the Indonesian Republic (NKRI) was inevitable.

In response to Suebu's and Ibo's statements, DPD members, through the chairman of the Council's Committee III, Marhany V Pua, leveled open and corrective criticisms at the central government.

Marhany Pua said the central government should no longer tryto overcome various problems in Papua in its present ways.

"An overall improvement is urgently needed in Papua. It is very important to accelerate development there to make it a secure, peaceful and prosperous province," he said.

On Thursday, the DPD also held a hearing with West Papua Governor Abraham Ataruri and members of his staff.

"The hearings were intended to find a comprehensive solution to the problems in Papua, especially in relation with the consistent implementation of Law No 21 on Papua's specialautonomy and the need to have a legal umbrella for West Papua province which was previously known as West Irian Jaya," Kawilarang said.