Jakarta – A key independence leader in Indonesia's remote Irian Jaya province told a court trying him for alleged subversion Monday that the province was already independent, his lawyer said.
"Theys Eluay told the court that the state of Papua has existed since December 1, 1961," defence lawyer Anum Siregar, using the locally-preferred name for the province, told AFP.
Chief Theys Eluay, who heads the pro-independence Papua Praesidium, is one of five independence leaders on trial in resource-rich Irian Jaya, the western half of New Guinea island, for alleged subversion against the Indonesian government.
Eluay and his lawyers presented his defence on the third day of the trial, which three judges are hearing in the provincial capital Irian Jaya.
"Eluay said the aim of the Papuan struggle was no longer to create an independent state – because they have that already – but to retrieve their rights to sovereignty," Siregar said.
Fervent supporters of the charismatic Eluay, an intensely-revered local tribal chief, packed the court room and spilled out into the corridors and courtyard.
Arriving at the courthouse Eluay and three of his co-defendants, Don Flassy, Reverend Herman Awom and Thaha Al Hamid, were showered with red, white and blue flowers by supporters, who were singing Christian hymns.
Inside, lawyers told the court that the May 2000 Papua Congress, which concluded by demanding that Jakarta recognise the province's sovereignty, could not be considered subversive, as it was held with the agreement of local government, military and police chiefs, all of whom attended.
"We told them that the Congress results were not just the aspirations of the five defendants but of the entire Papua community," Siregar said. "So what Theys did was to express political aspirations. That doesn't constitute mobilising a political rebellion or subversion." The judges adjourned Eluay's hearing until June 18.
Co-accused Flassy, a member of the Praesidium, was at the court Monday to hear the prosecution's response to his defence, which was presented last week.
"The prosecutors said their charges were clear and irrefutable, citing, as one example, Flassy's raising of the separatist Morning Star flag, despite its prohibition," Siregar said.
Flassy's hearing was adjourned until June 11 when judges will decide whether to accept the defence case as it stands or call witnesses.
The combined cases of the three other fellow Praesidium members, the Reverend Herman Awom, Thaha Al Hamid and John Mambor were postponed until June 18 due to Mambor's confinement to hospital.
Leaving the courthouse Eluay, Flassy, Awom and Al Hamid were hailed with prayers and more hymns from their supporters.
An independence movement has simmered in Irian Jaya, a former Dutch colony, since the Dutch departed in 1961. A group of Papuans declared independence on December 1 of that year, but Indonesian troops began moving in over the following two years. Indonesia's sovereignty over Irian Jaya was formalised with a UN plebiscite in 1969, which independence leaders, some of whom were involved in the plebiscite, maintain was flawed and unrepresentative.
Independence sentiments have been fuelled by Jakarta's perceived exploitation of Irian Jaya's rich timber, gold and mineral resources, and sometimes brutal repression by Indonesian soldiers and police.
Some 253 mainly Christian Melanesian tribes make up Irian Jaya's indigenous population, estimated at around 1.8 million, with another 700,000 transmigrants mainly from Java and Sulawesi bringing the total to some 2.5 million.