http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/01/14/after-observing-papua-msg-ministers-meet-sby.html
Bagus BT Saragih and Margareth S. Aritonang, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, January 14 2014, 5:20 PM
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is set to receive foreign ministers of Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) member nations at the State Palace on Wednesday, says presidential spokesman for foreign affairs Teuku Faizasyah.
Yudhoyono will receive Fijian Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, Papua New Guinean Rimbink Pato and Clay Forau Soaloi of the Solomon Islands at the State Palace, Faizasyah said.
“The meeting will be in the format of a courtesy call without the signing of agreements,” he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Faizasyah brushed off reports suggesting that Yudhoyono and the MSG officials would sign an agreement on noninterference in Papuan issues by the grouping.
Two other MSG members, Vanuatu and the Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), a pro-independence group from French-ruled New Caledonia, were represented by special envoys.
The Pacific islands officials are in Indonesia to assess the application of the separatist West Papua National Council for Liberation (WPNCL) as an MSG member as mandated by the MSG’s 19th Leaders Summit in the New Caledonian capital of Noumea in June 2013.
The WPNCL, which is based in Vanuatu, currently has observer status in the MSG, as does Indonesia.
The delegation visited Papua, West Papua and Maluku provinces on Monday and Tuesday “to observe the development in the province and receive briefings on the implementation of the special autonomy by the local government”, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto told the Post on Monday.
Pato told Antara news agency in Jayapura that Papua New Guinea and other countries in the MSG, “I think, support Papua to remain under Indonesian sovereignty”.
Fiji’s Ratu Inoke said, “The visit will provide the opportunity to learn firsthand about the situation in West Papua and understand the aspirations of our fellow Melanesian brothers and sisters in Papua.”
“We fully respect Indonesia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and we further recognize that West Papua is an integral part of Indonesia,” he said in an official statement released by the Fijian government.
Comments:
epicureanhedonist
the MSG reps were in Papua only for two days and did not meet Papuan civil society! how would they be able to learn firsthand about the situation there, let alone the aspirations of the Papuans??
Jagera
epicurean, surely the issues are simply whether Melanesian people can adequately participate in the political life of RI and their standard of living. Its got nothing to with whether some bigmen would like total political power or not.
Abdul Khalid
Fiji’s Ratu Inoke said: “We fully respect Indonesia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and we further recognize that West Papua is an integral part of Indonesia,” --
It is not up to you to decide this, dear Ratu Inoke. It is up to the people of West Papua, through a fair referendum.
Jagera
Abdul, as a representative of a sovereign state, Ratu Inoke has indeed every right to express the view of his sovereign state. it is normal for sovereign states to not interfere in the internal affairs of other states.
Abdul Khalid
Jagera, you view it as an "internal affair" of Indonesia, thus espousing Indonesia's stance. However, want it or not, this is an international problem since the very beginning. Moreover, human rights are not particular matter of a given country. That Indonesia decides that she has the right of life or death over West Papuans, as she did in East Timor, is actually matter for serious international concern. In his context, the words of the Fijian representative are worth very little. I suspect that the Fijian government fears retribution from Indonesia if it expressed too bluntly its solidarity with the oppressed West Papuans.
Jagera
Abdul, I doubt Fiji worries about Indonesia. The UN is also not there to worry about internal matters. However should there be serious rights abuses causing a flood of refugees to Australia and PNG, then these two countries will naturally object to their rugby games being interrupted.
Jagera
Accountability in governance will be an ongoing issue in Papua and West Papua due to the deliberations of the MSG. Maintenance of the status quo will be in the interests of PNG and Australia. Other states like Vanuatu can however be expected to take on advocacy of independence based largely around ethnicity. The advocacy cause however will always remain weak while people in the provinces of Papua and West Papua enjoy a way of life at least equivalent to those in PNG.
The world is full of failed states. Millions of people flee from states run by their own people. the only thing that matters is the standard of living that people have, not the political entity they come under.