Rationale given for NZ community policing assistance to Indonesia

The New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully

The New Zealand foreign minister, Murray McCully, has defended a US$5 million commitment to a three-year community policing programme in eastern Indonesia, including Papua and West Papua.

The programme, which follows a pilot in 2009/10, is to be funded by the New Zealand aid programme and implemented by New Zealand police.

Murray McCully says his government wants to encourage police and others in authority in the Papua region of Indonesia to understand good commmunity policing initiatives.

“The whole basis of community policing is training people to be able to use their authority in a way that is going to engender respect from the locals. It is precisely the expertise that New Zealand imparts through the community policing project,” he said.

“It’s simply an area that New Zealand has had a long-term interest in providing assistance in. We believe that to the extent that there have been difficulties in relation to Papua, those are best dealt with by encouraging police and others in authority to understand good community policing initiatives. And that’s a capability that we’re providing through the Indonesian government at the moment.”

“It’s one of the great aspects of New Zealand police that we are world-class at community policing and that’s something we’re doing in West Papua,” he explained.

Though the program has been criticized with the Green Party saying New Zealand should instead put resources into facilitating dialogue between the West Papuans and Jakarta, McCully says that he is more broadly aware of a lot of work that is going on in Indonesia at the moment to improve that overall environment and to improve communication in relation to West Papua.

He thinks that the Green Party and others who want to go pointing fingers at difficulties in West Papua need to get themselves updated on the significant amount of work that is being done by parties in Indonesia, in West Papua and Papua to achieve better understanding and to try and improve overall relationships.

“There’s a lot of good work being done, and I want to see the New Zealand government play its part in reinforcing that work, rather than simply standing back, as the critics do, and trying to identify problems,” he said.

Source: Radio New Zealand International

Experts: Indonesia needs new approach in Papua

Indonesia must change the way it handles problems in Papua if the nation wants the international community to respect its rights over its westernmost territory, say activists and experts.

The longer the problems linger, the bigger the push for separatism, they agreed.

“Indonesia has a chance to demonstrate its political maturity in these matters,” New Zealand lawmaker and Green Party foreign affairs spokesperson Keith Locke said.

Locke added that Indonesia has made greater progress as a democracy and deserved recognition for its achievements and leadership of ASEAN.

Muridan S. Widjojo, a senior researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), agreed that there must be a change in Jakarta’s approach to Papua.

“The conflict has been going on for over 50 years. We need to pursue a better dialogue between Jakarta and West Papua,” he said.

University of Indonesia law professor Hikmahanto Juwana disagreed on efforts to contest the Act of Free Choice 1969 internationally in purpose demanding for UN review.

“The people of West Papua already exercised their right to self- determination in the UN supervised Act of Free Choice 1969.”

“Indonesia is a heterogeneous country made up of former Dutch colonies, which include West Papua,” Hikmahanto said, adding that the discussion should focus on the welfare of West Papuans instead of pushing for independence.(*WPNN)