Jayapura – President Megawati Sukarnoputri gave the restive province of Papua what she called a Christmas present yesterday, belting out the Sinatra classic, My Way, at a festive holiday celebration.

The normally shy Megawati broke into song after making a brief speech at a Christmas gathering in the provincial capital, Jayapura.

The President, in a duet with a young Papuan woman, gave a competent rendition of the song popular with many politicians, including Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. "That's my favourite song," she said in a live radio broadcast, to applause from the 1000-strong audience.

Calling her song a "Christmas present", she joked: "If I make a mistake, keep clapping." In a more sober message to inaugurate Papua's Tangguh liquefied natural gas project, she urged the people of Papua not to squander the wealth expected from the massive project slated to start production in 2006.

The field, located in the Berau-Bintuni Bay region of the province, will be Indonesia's third-largest. It is expected to generate billions of dollars in revenue, to be shared among the national government, Papua's administration and several multinational companies working on the project.

"When the Tangguh project gets off the ground, use it well for the welfare and benefit of the people of Papua," Ms Megawati said.

Papua is one of Indonesia's poorest provinces, despite possessing vast natural resources. Independence activists there have long complained that Jakarta takes too much of the province's wealth.

Rebels have maintained a low-level insurgency in the province since Indonesia occupied the region in 1963 after the withdrawal of the Dutch colonial administration.