The chairman of the MRP, Drs Agus Alua believes that the flag-raising incident that resulted in the shooting dead of Opinus Tabuni, a Papuan in Wamena was handled in a way that was in violation of presidential decree 77 (PP 77) about the use of symbols. 'The intention of the President with PP77 was that it should be used persuasively,' he said.

With about ten incidents involving flag-raising having occurred, problems have arisen relating to PP77. 'None of the cases was handled in accordance with the decree. This means that flag-raising will continue to be a problem until a proper solution is found.'

With reference to a meeting held the day before between DAP and the MRP, DAP has sent a letter to the police chief which states the conditions the police should observe and hopes that the MRP will support that position.

Agus Alua said that the shooting incident is quite a separate matter from the flag-raising and the MRP will call on the police to keep the issues quite separate.

The chairman of the Dewan Adat, Forkorus Yoboisembut together with other DAP members said they reject the idea of the police continuing with their investigations (into the flag-raising) until they have revealed who was responsible for the shooting incident. The shooting incident must be dealt with first along with the motive for the shooting. He said that raising a flag is not a crime but murdering a man is certainly a crime.

He pointed out that on 7 July 2008, they were commemorating World Indigenous People's Day, an international event. The police should ensure that during any investigations, two lawyers should be present, one domestic and one from abroad, he said.

He said finally that once the police have told the public who it was who murdered Tabuni, they would ask people who it was who carried out the flag-raising.