Enarotali, Jubi – Willem Wandik, an Indonesian parliament member from Papua, firmly said that those who have rights to decide whether the Special Autonomy in Papua should be continued or terminated are the people of Papua.
“Papuan people have rights in governing the Special Autonomy policy in Papua, and it would never be under the command of the Papuan Police Chief,” Wandik recently told Jubi.
Wandik, the politician from the Democratic Party, deeply regretted the Papuan Police Chief’s statement to ban public campaigns to decline the Special Autonomy policy in Papua. In his view, the police chief’s statement has reflected the authoritarian method to control democracy in the land of Papua.
“It demonstrates how the iron hand approach always becomes an option for security forces in responding to people’s demand, in particular indigenous Papuans in the land of Papua,” he said.
Moreover, he stated that the police chief has no right to control people from democracy. Instead, by giving this order, the police chief has violated the Constitution 1945 as the supreme law in Indonesia which provides rights for people to participate in determining regulations or policies that would influence their lives.
Separately, the Secretary for Bangun Papua fraction in the House of Representative Papua Alfred Fredy Anouw said the Papuan Police Chief’s statement could be interpreted that the chief considered Papuans were not the Indonesian citizens because Indonesia is a democratic state.
“The Papuan Police Chief should not ban people from expressing their opinion in public,” said Anouw.
He, therefore, asked the Papuan Police Chief to not publish a statement that might lead indigenous Papuans to disappointment. “Because the Special Autonomy Policy is not a small problem. It’s about the lives of Papuan people,” he said.
“So, not just because of his personal achievement, he can tell people whatever he wants. He must see Papuan people as the whole. He cannot be egoistic,” he said.
Earlier, the Papuan Police Chief Paulus Waterpauw considered the launch of Papuan People Petition initiated by 16 civil organisations to decline the extension of Special Autonomy Law as an effort to provoke the public.
“I disagree with them, with their campaign. It was an effort of provocation,” Waterpauw firmly told reporters in Jayapura on Friday (17/7/2020) as cited in suarapapua.com. (*)
Reporter: Abeth You
Editor: Pipit Maizier
