Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

West Papua name change criticised

Posted at 20:05 on 07 February, 2007 UTC

The Papua Presidium Council says the name change of the Indonesian province of West Irian Jaya to West Papua is part of Jakarta’s divide-and-rule approach to Papua.

West Irian Jaya was created in 2003 as the first of several proposed new provinces out of Papua province.

Its name change has been approved by the provincial legislative council.

But the Presidium, which was established to negotiate an end to Indonesia’s 1969 annexation of Papua, says the name change is only a political label and that the legal status of the new province remains unclear.

The Presidium’s Jayapura secretary, Willy Mandowen, says the false division of Papua into several provinces is a violation of Special Autonomy Law which the presidium has rejected.

“It’s only a matter of divide and rule because they dare not to implement what they implemented on the people, which is the Special Autonomy Law. They continue to divide the people with the purpose of ruling them. These are very divisive policies.”

Willy Mandowen