The Australian , 26 February 2003

Quite the reverse, actually

        Your article "RMIT caves in on West Papua forum" (The Australian, February 14) concluded with an absurd, unsubstantiated and highly politicised assertion by the Australasian editor of New Internationalist, Christ Richards, that Indonesia was reversing its earlier granting a degree of autonomy to West Papua.

        What Presidential Decree No. 1/2003 - to which presumably the article refers - is all about is the creation of three provinces, 12 new districts and a new city in Papua. The rationale was that the island province of 422,000sq km was too large and diverse for one administration to efficiently and effectively discharge government service and as a means to lifting living standards.

        The move is also motivated by the Government's determination to provide wider participation of the locals in the decision-making process while keeping the spirit of absolute autonomy to the three provinces. Simply put, there's no back-pedalling.

 

Trini G. Sualang
Head of Information Section
Indonesian Embassy
Canberra

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Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, Canberra - Australia