Jayapura – All elements within the United Papuan Peoples' Coalition for Justice (KRPBK) are firm in their rejection of Special Autonomy – OTSUS, and call for the dissolution of the MRP as well as rejecting UP4B (Unit for Accelerated Development of Papua and West Papua) which was recently created by the central government.

The reasons: The DPRP (Papuan provincial legislative assembly) adopted the OTSUS law for Papua in 2001, but ten years on, OTSUS has been a total failure, according to KRPBK spokesman Selpius Bobii, following a meeting between the coalition and the DPRP on Monday 4 April.

He said they had urged the DPRP to publicly announce its decision, based on the aspirations that were adopted in 2001. This led to the creation of a special OTSUS committee, Pansus OTSUS to accommodate the aspirations of the Papuan people. "We will continue to voice our rejection of the failed OTSUS." He also called on Pansus OTSUS to hold a plenary session with one item only on the agenda, the rejection of OTSUS.

Asked whether they had set a deadline for this plenary session, he said they could not speak about this for the moment but they were working to consolidate the views of all elements of Papuan society, and were planning to organise a nationwide strike as well as actions to occupy all government offices in the Land of Papua.

Asked to explain this further, Yunus Wonda (who also attended the meeting with the DPRP) said that calling a plenary session was not an easy thing to. There were a number of political parties in the DPRP each with their own mechanisms and statutes which must be accommodated.

"Rejecting OTSUS is not just an emotional issue but must take into account a number or ways in which OTSUS had failed, before the issue could be discussed at a plenary session of the DPRP."

Pansus OTSUS will still have to make an evaluation of OTSUS which will involve a number of NGOs, academics, traditional leaders, leaders of the women's and students' movements, in order to be able to act in unison.