The chairman of DAP, the Papuan Traditional Council, has called on the Indonesian government to be more judicious about plans to send yet more transmigrants to Papua.

Forkorus Yaboisembut said that plans by the Transmigration Department to move more transmigrants into Papua was a matter of great concern.

'I very much hope that Papua will not yet again be the target for more transmigrants because this is turning the Papuan people into a minority in their own homeland.'

He went on to say that sending more transmigrants in Papua was creating many more problems. In addition to turning local communities into minorities, it is also fostering feelings of jealousy because the majority of people who run businesses and own plenty of capital are those who have come from other parts of Indonesia.

Transmigration is also resulting in local Papuan cultures being swamped by cultures from outside.

The government has announced that it has allocated Rp 600 billion to cover the cost of bringing more transmigrants to Papua from other parts of the country. The new transmigration programme is scheduled to continue until 2014.