Economy
Peace hopes rise for West Papua
PAPUA New Guinea has now launched an initiative aimed at defusing the standoff over West Papua, raising hopes of a breakthrough in one of the most intractable rows in the Asia-Pacific region.
The progress emerged after PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill led a large delegation to Jakarta a month ago for talks with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono about building the economy of the New Guinea island and associated diplomatic initiatives.
The western half of New Guinea island comprises two Indonesian provinces, Papua and West Papua. It has a 750km – mostly mountainous, often fraught and dangerous – border with PNG.
“West Papua has been a sticky issue for PNG and the western Pacific for quite some time. Our role is to open up discussion,” Mr O’Neill told The Australian.
“We feel the government of Indonesia has a genuine desire to ensure that the issues relating to West Papua are managed in a mutually beneficial manner, and for the first time in our bilateral discussions we were able to discuss this openly with the Indonesian government.”
He said he was convinced Dr Yudhoyono now wished “to withdraw the military presence from West Papua, and to allow for more autonomy through economic empowerment of the people”.
“We feel this is a good opening for us to engage with the Indonesian government so we can participate in the improvement of the lives of Melanesian people there, and of our own people along the border,” he said.
“Our officials are now engaged meaningfully in establishing the co-operation we agreed.”
Relations between Indonesia and the Melanesian nations, led by Papua New Guinea, have been difficult since the Dutch withdrew from “Netherlands New Guinea,” and the Pacific islands became independent states.
The plight of West Papua has soured relations between Indonesia – even since it became a liberal democracy 15 years ago – and Australian non-government organisations and universities.
In 2001, the area now covered by the two provinces was declared autonomous, with 80 per cent of its tax receipts to be retained for local use. This process has remained only partially complete, compared with the more successful governance situation in Aceh at the other end of the Indonesian archipelago.