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No country supports Papua separatism, says presidential spokesman

Antara News - October 22, 2008

Jakarta – Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal stated here on Tuesday that no country supported separatism in Papua.

"Not a single member country of the United Nations supports separatism in Papua so that Indonesia's position in the matter is solid," he said at the president's office.

He made the statement in response to the launching of an "International Parliamentarians for West Papua" caucus in London recently. Dino however admitted that there were indeed some parliamentarians and non-governmental organizations that supported the action.

"The initiative of the International Parliamentarians has failed and the British government's position of supporting Indonesia's territorial integrity has not changed," he said.

The British parliament, he said, also respected Indonesia's territorial integrity. "The situation on the field is also good," he said.

Earlier, Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said the International Parliamentary action was not significant.

He said the launching of International Parliamentarians for West Papua in Britain on October 15, 2008 was only attended by two British parliament members – the British parliament consists of the House of Lords with 746 members and the House of Commons with 646 members – and around 30 members of non-governmental organizations were so far supporting the idea of Papuan independence.

The incident only showed that Papua's independence question was not really an issue, he said.

Faiza said the action was only supported by the same persons who saw Papua using a reference of the Indonesian situation in the 90s while the situation in the region had changed after it was given special autonomy that had made the idea of independence no longer relevant.

According to the Indonesian embassy in London, the activity that was held on the premises of the parliament did not draw the attention of other British MPs, the media or the public. Neither was West Papua officially put on the agenda of the House of Commons nor on the notice board in the lobby of the building.