DATE=6/5/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDONESIA / PAPUA (L)
NUMBER=2-263155
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has
rejected a declaration of independence for West
Papua Province. As Patricia Nunan reports from
Jakarta, the province makes up the western half
the island of Papua New Guinea and is one of
Indonesia's wealthiest, in terms of natural
resources.
Text: Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid says
the province's congress -- which declared West
Papua free of Indonesia Sunday -- did not
represent the whole of the population.
He says organizers prevented pro-Jakarta groups
from attending.
//WAHID SPEAKING INDONESIAN//
President Wahid said people who support
integration with Indonesia were not allowed into
the congress.
He says independence supporters are the minority
and that - therefore - the national government is
not accepting the congress.
Some 27 hundred delegates attended the week-long
congress in the West Papuan city, Jayapura.
The congress declared West Papua to have been
independent from Indonesia since the first of
December, 1961. That year the territory was
granted its freedom by Dutch colonizers.
Congressional delegates also rejected a 1962
ballot organized by the United Nations, which
integrated the province with Indonesia and gave
it the name "Irian Jaya." They said only pro-
Jakarta groups were represented in that vote.
The decision to date the declaration of
independence to 1961 was a compromise. Some
delegates feared a declaration of immediate
independence would be too provocative.
President Wahid changed the name of the province
back to West Papua last year. The isolated
province is one of Indonesia's wealthiest, with
huge gold and copper reserves. (signed)
NEB/HK/PN/GC/WD
05-Jun-2000 06:01 AM EDT (05-Jun-2000 1001 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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