Jakarta – The Awaking Papua Forum (Forum Papua Bangkit) said it suspects corruption was the cause of the long delay in the construction of a Trans Irian highway linking the southern and north ends of the country's most underdeveloped region.

The Merauke-Wamena-Jayapura-Nabire-Sorong highway was commissioned in 1992 but had yet to come to fruition, Hengky Jokhu, the forum's coordinator said in Sentani, Papua, on Monday.

"It is no longer a secret that the National Road and Bridge Agency, which hold the authority over road and bridge projects in Papua, is rampant with corruption. Road and bridge projects financed with funds from the state budget are laden with big mark-ups," Hengky said as quoted by Antara news agency.

He also accused officials in Jakarta of having a share in the corruption committed by authorities in the region. "The authorities in the regions were forced to pay a certain amount to those in power in Jakarta, including the legislators who acted as project brokers," he said.

He said half a century had passed since Papua joined Indonesia and so far Papua has been left poor, isolated and marginalized.

Hengky said the issue of more autonomous areas in Papua planned by the central government was an attempt at diverting attention away from alleged corruption and money laundering.