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Papua separatist leader promises no more blood

Source
Agence France Presse - October 21, 2000

Jakarta – The man spearheading the independence movement in Indonesia's Irian Jaya province on Saturday played down fears of further bloodshed in the remote area over flying the separatist Morning Star flag. "There will be no more bloodshed," Theys Eluay, chief of the Papua Praesidium Council, told AFP.

Eluay's low-key line runs counter to fears expressed by human rights workers and other separatist supporters, who are nervous a new hardline approach by Jakarta against flying the separarist flag will cost lives in the province, also known as West Papua.

Attempts by police to remove the Morning Star flag from the hinterland town of Wamena on October 6 sparked riots that killed six Papuans and 31 non-Papuan settlers.

The central government reacted by declaring a full ban on the flag, and police set a staggered series of deadlines for its removal, starting with the provincial capital Jayapura on October 19.

When it announced the ban the Indonesian cabinet said the flag had become a symbol of separatism. Separatist civilian guards grouped under the Papua Taskforce earlier this week declared they were ready to die in defence of the flag, and warned any casualties among Irian Jaya's settler population would be "the responsibility of police."

Citing fears of violence, police last Tuesday backed off on the deadline and promised to let the Morning Star flags fly until Praesidium leaders secure a direct order from Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid.

Eluay is now in Jakarta to pursue talks with Wahid. "If the flags have to come down, it will be done in a decent way," Eluay said, when asked about pledges of martyrdom by Taskforce members vowing to keep the Morning Star hoisted.

Taskforce commander Boy Eluay – Theys' son – said on Thursday even if Wahid ordered the removal of the flags, thousands of Taskforce members would be ready to become "martyrs and victims" to keep it flying. "We won't fight, but we are ready to be made victims of in defence of the Morning Star," Boy Eluay told AFP by phone from the provincial capital of Jayapura on Thursday.

Theys Eluay said he had yet to formally request a meeting with Wahid. "On Monday we will send a letter to the palace requesting a meeting," Eluay told AFP on Saturday.

Wahid has been out of the country since the suspension of the ban and no meeting has yet been scheduled, although a palace spokesman has said he will "probably" meet the Praesidium leaders. The president was due to return from a trip to Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore at around midnight Saturday, a palace spokesman said.

Wahid first authorised the flying of the Morning Star flag in December last year, on the condition that it flew alongside and beneath Indonesia's national flag.

Two Morning Star flags are still flying in Jayapura, and dozens remain hoisted in towns outside Jayapura, most in violation of Wahid's condition, police there have said.

Anthropologists say the flag has come to symbolize an end to misery and an era of freedom for Papuans, many of whom believe that the act of flying it will summon a saviour figure.

Papuans have made increasingly vociferous calls for independence in recent years, climaxing with a mass congress in June this year at which they demanded Jakarta recognise that they had been independent since December 1961.

Independence leaders say a UN-conducted "act of free choice" in 1969, which led to the former Dutch territory becoming part of Indonesia, was unrepresentative.

Wahid has pledged not to tolerate separatism in the province, promising broad autonomy instead by the end of the year. Irian Jaya's 2.5 million people are mainly Melanesian Christians, who fall into some 250 tribes.

[On October 17 the Sydney Morning Herald reported that around 100 people from West Papua protested outside the vice-presidential palace on October 16, blaming the country's military for the recent violence. They said the military had triggered separatist sentiment, and urged the Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, to defuse the situation - James Balowski.]

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