Michael Field – A 23-strong delegation of politicians from Indonesia-controlled Papua is heading to New Zealand amidst controversy that they're on a junket with little perceived benefit.
The Jakarta Globe said the delegation had only one appointment in its five-day trip to New Zealand – to visit the son of the delegation leader in Palmerston North.
A strong separatist movement exists in Papua where the mainly Melanesian population want independence from Indonesia. Amidst allegations of extreme human rights abuse and random killings, Indonesia has tightly controlled Papua and seldom lets outsiders in.
The Jakarta Globe said the entire membership of the Papua provincial legislature, including a corruption convict and other officials accused of embezzling social aid funds, had left or was preparing to leave on costly overseas trips with little perceived benefit to the people of one of Indonesia's least-developed regions.
It said 62 individuals from the 56-seat legislature and the provincial administration were scheduled to travel in separate groups this week. A contingent of 18 left for Germany on Sunday and groups of 21 and 23 are expected to this week travel to the Netherlands and New Zealand respectively.
Yunus Wonda, the council deputy speaker and head of the delegation to New Zealand, defended the trips that will leave the legislature deserted.
"We've planned these trips since 2012," Yunus told the Globe. "We want to see firsthand the education of Papuan students who are studying in those countries, how they're doing, as well as how the government is supporting them in terms of scholarships and moral support.
"So it's clear that we're undertaking this programme with a purpose. We're not just going for no reason." There are 18 Papua students in New Zealand.
Questions have also been raised about the decision by the New Zealand-bound delegation to visit only the IPC Tertiary Institute in Palmerston North where Yunus has enrolled his own child, reportedly taking 105 million Indonesian rupiah (NZ$11,000) from the provincial budget to pay for the cost.
Yunus is among several Papua councillors cited in a Supreme Audit Agency report from July for receiving hundreds of millions of rupiah under the guise of social aid from the provincial budget.
The report showed Yunus received a total of Rp 253 million from the 2012 social aid fund, including Rp 148 million to get a medical checkup in Jakarta.
Two other councillors who also received funds from the social aid budget, Boy Markus Dawir and Ruben Magai, are scheduled to go on the trips to the Netherlands and New Zealand, respectively.