Jayapura – Speaker after speaker at a landmark conference on the future of Indonesia's West Papua province called for independence yesterday as alarm bells over a possible new East Timor sounded in Jakarta.
The speakers, from the 14 districts of the resource-rich province of some 2.5 million people, at the week-long Papuan People's Congress unanimously called for independence.
They demanded that representatives of Indonesia, their old Dutch colonial masters and the United Nations meet them to negotiate independence demands.
The calls came after congress leaders met in closed session in a face-off between moderates and calls by a minority radical faction for an immediate declaration of independence and the formation of a provisional government in exile.
The congress, attended by some 2,700 delegates in this seaside provincial capital, is almost certain to end with a call for independence.
The moderates want a pledge to work for independence through peaceful dialogue with Jakarta and international mediation. But they also suspect the radicals of being manipulated by Jakarta to give Indonesian troops an excuse to crack down in Irian Jaya.
In Jakarta, alarm bells rang yesterday. Foreign Affairs Minister Alwi Shihab said the government is concerned about the possibility that delegates will vote for independence.
"That should be seen as something that is against the Constitution. We would then have to take necessary measures," he said without elaborating further.
At the Jayapura meeting, a vote on the independence motion was delayed until further notice, but the presidium agreed to increase the number of voting members to 501 from 420, to accommodate former political prisoners and veteran freedom fighters.
Senior presidium member and moderate, Mr Ismail Raja Bauw, told AFP that the eventual vote would be crucial. "It is very important for us because we are going to decide on the question of provisional government or government in exile. If we decide that, Indonesia will kill us," he said.
Jakarta said it is not bound by the outcome of the conference. President Abdurrahman Wahid, who renamed the province West Papua, has said that delegates are allowed to express their opinions peacefully, but has ruled out independence.
Yesterday's proceedings started two hours late because of security precautions. Congress sources said two people carrying handguns had tried to get past security on Tuesday.
Indonesian authorities have been unable to stamp out a low-level "Free Papua Movement" in the province, and years of harsh military rule under former President Suharto has created widespread sympathy for the rebels.
As on the first two days of the Congress, the Papuan "Morning Star" flag flew over the congress, flanked by the flags of Indonesia and neighbouring Papua New Guinea on smaller flagpoles.