Mimika. Hundreds of Papuans rallied outside the Mimika district legislature on Tuesday to protest over the selection of members for the largely symbolic Papuan People’s Assembly.
The assembly, or MRP, was established in 2005 as a cultural representative institution of indigenous Papuans in a bid to address accusations that the interests of the province’s native population were being sidelined in favor of Java-centric government policies.
Protesters at Tuesday’s rally, calling themselves the Papua Solidarity Society, once again revived those sentiments and said the MRP had failed to promote their interests.
They carried banners that read “Disband the MRP,” “All Papuans Declare the MRP a Failure” and “Send the MRP Back to Jakarta.”
Vincent Onijoma, the protest coordinator, said the selection of MRP members, which began province-wide on Tuesday and ends on Thursday, should be stopped, given the assembly’s lack of clout.
“Since it was formed, the MRP has proposed several special bills, most of which have been ignored or rejected by Jakarta,” he said.
“If this keeps up, the new MRP members will have just as futile a job.”
He said the Papua Solidarity Society had in 2006 made similar calls for the special autonomy granted to the province to be repealed because it had brought no improvements to the lives of indigenous residents.
Specifically, Vincent said that both autonomy and the formation of the MRP had failed to bring to an end the cases of gross rights abuses of Papuan civilians by the armed forces.
Those taking part in Tuesday’s protest included representatives of churches, student groups, tribal associations and women’s groups.
The protest leaders were met by district legislators Fabianus Jemadu and Alpius Edoway, who agreed to receive their letter of objection to the MRP selection.
However, the selection process kicked off as planned on Tuesday.
The new members of the assembly are being chosen by special committees set up in each district and city in the two provinces of Papua and West Papua.
A total of 75 seats are up for grabs, 44 allocated to Papua and the rest to West Papua.
The terms of the current MRP members officially ended in October, but because of delays starting the selection process, they have been extended until the end of January.
The new members will serve until 2016.