(CNN)Indonesian parliament bills on Thursday to create three new states in the developing region of Papua Was passed. It undermines the status of the indigenous people in the area and threatens special autonomy.
The easternmost region of the Southeast Asian country, which is currently divided into Papua and West Papua, is divided into five states, including South Papua, Central Papua, and Highland Papua.
The government says this decision will accelerate development, improve the provision of public services, and increase the chances of Papuan becoming a civil servant in one of the country's poorest regions, resource-rich areas. Claims to be useful.
After the vote, Indonesia's Interior Minister Tito Karnavian said that the main goal of the law was "to accelerate the development of Papua and improve the welfare of the Papua people, especially the indigenous Papuan." Said there is.
However, this plan caused a protest in Papua. Papua has seen low-level independence conflicts since Papua came under Indonesian control due to a 1969 UN-supervised dispute.
Critics fear that it could deprive the area of the world's largest gold and copper deposits of more power.
"By slicing and dying Papua into smaller administrative units, Jakarta wants to divide and conquer Papua's identity and resistance," he said, increasing the risk of militarization. Veronica Corman, Indonesian human rights lawyer at Amnesty International Australia watching, said. And a fierce collision.
In an interview with Reuters in April, Timothius Mrib, chief of the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP), said the law would allow non-indigenous Papuan to flow into new government posts. He said it was brought in without sufficient consultation. The government denied.
Last year's change in Papua's Special Autonomy Act allowed the central government to create a new state, and the MRP claimed that the change undermined autonomy and filed a judicial review with the Constitutional Court. I was prompted.
The Indonesian Ministry of Interior said the government would comply with the court's ruling.
