Tiarma Siboro and R.K. Nugroho, Jakarta/Jayapura – Bowing to intense public pressure, the government announced on Thursday that it was forming an independent team to investigate the November 11 murder of Irian Jaya independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluay.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the government was working on the composition of the team membership, and underlined that such a team would report any progress to the President.

Susilo said that, after speaking with reporters following a meeting with President Megawati Soekarnoputri at her residence on Jl. Teuku Umar, a presidential decree was being drafted to legally back the team's operation.

Last week, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) proposed that a national independent team with the police and military elements in it be set up to probe the death of Theys. The commission also proposed the inclusion of prominent local figures and some members of independent, non-government organizations in the team.

Komnas HAM Chairman Djoko Sugianto said, after a meeting with Susilo last week, that a decree on the establishment of the investigating team was badly needed to give it more authority.

On Thursday, Susilo said that the government had yet to decide whether or not any military or police officials would join the team.

Prior to the meeting with the President, Susilo led a special meeting on social and political affairs at his office, which included discussion of Irian Jaya issues.

Also present at the meeting were, among others, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayudha, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Attorney General M.A. Rachman and Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Adm. Widodo A.S.

Earlier in the day, Susilo also met with deputy chairman of the Papua Presidium Council (PDP), Tom Beanal, along with Thaha. During the meeting, Thaha said that they had told Susilo the Papuans would not accept such an "independent team" as a substitute for the government.

"How come such a team could be independent while it also accommodated government elements?" Thaha asked. "We can't accept such a team proposed by the Komnas HAM ... we prefer to bring the case to an international forum." He further said that the Papuans (as people indigenous to Irian Jaya call themselves) also demanded Jakarta's commitment to having Papuan history corrected. The settlement of human rights violations was also among their demands.

Thaha was referring to an ignored Papuan independence effort in December 1961, and the UN-sponsored plebiscite after Irian Barat (the then name of Irian Jaya) was handed over to the government of Indonesia, through the UN, from the Dutch in 1963.

That the government has set up an investigation team has apparently failed to impress non-government organizations based in Jayapura, Irian Jaya. The Institute of Human Rights Study and Avocation (Elsham), the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) and the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) declared their opposition to the government-backed team to probe Theys' death. "Komnas HAM's credibility has deteriorated in the eyes of Papuans," Elsham supervisor John Rumbiak told The Jakarta Post after a media conference on Thursday.

The three non-government organizations recorded that Komnas HAM had failed in handling rights violations in Irian Jaya, citing the Freeport right violations in 1995, the violence in Biak in 1998, the Mapmduma case in 1999 and the Abepura incident last year. "None of the cases has been properly investigated and resolved by Komnas HAM," John Rumbiak said.

The three NGOs believed that the independent team proposed by the government was an attempt to portray the death of Theys as being merely the result of a criminal incident. Moreover, military personnel may have been be involved in the alleged murder, both Rumbiak and Wakman said.

The three influential NGOs proposed that an independent team be composed of reliable members of national NGOs and Papuan figures, along with human rights experts from other countries, such as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Summary Executions, the United Nations' Working Group on Torture and independent forensic experts.

The three NGOs also said that President Megawati had played a role in Theys' death. "Megawati's involvement [in Theys' death] started before the second Papuan congress from May 29 to June 4 this year," said Rumbiak. "At that time she put Papuan issues on the agenda of the Annual Session of the People's Consultative Assembly [MPR] in August this year," he added, "where she termed the Papuans' political move as separatism, which must not be condoned."

"Subsequently, very confidential documents were issued on June 9, 2000 on the operation to curb the political move in Papua," he noted. "In her state address in August 2001 she stressed that there would be no place for separatists in Papua and Aceh."

According to Rumbiak, the abduction and murder of Theys were not committed by common criminals. "The abduction and murder are very serious human rights violations in which the state was involved," he said.