Religious leaders in Indonesia’s Papua province demand halt to development programmes

Almost everyday we can see so many factual developments of democracy in Papua. One of the facts is that religious leaders in Papua can speak their mind regarding development programmes. Something that would never occurred during the period of New Order before 1998.

Hopefully these positive development can create a strong civil society in Papua, so the domestic problem within Papua can be solved by Papuan people and not by political opportunist abroad.

Here is the news…

From Radio New Zealand International
Posted at 17:07 on 23 December, 2007 UTC

Some religious leaders in Indonesia’s Papua province say the six-year-old autonomy law for their area has been violated.
During talks on the province’s future, representatives from the Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu, Muslim and Protestant faiths said the law had been ignored over development programmes, land rights, and by the police.

The religious leaders said programmes in the province had split local ethnic groups and marginalised Papuan workers.

They had demanded a halt to development programmes at town, district and provincial levels and insist the national government must consider local culture properly before undertaking development programmes.