The chairman of the Baptist Churches of Papua, Sofyan Yoman, is visiting the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, lobbying foreign embassies to help generate international intervention in Papua.
“The Indonesian government and the West Papua representative should come to the negotiation table to talk peacefully,” he said.
Pastor Socratez has suggested that a neutral “referee” mediate the dialogue.
“Let’s put it this way: There are two parties who are fighting, and it needs to be refereed,” he said. “If the government tries to mediate, that is not fair — how could the murderer become the referee? It’s nonsense.”
Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto is currently on a working visit to Papua after being dispatched by the president of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to address the escalating conflict that has taken lives of both civilians and security officers.
A Papua specialist, Dr Richard Chauvel, a senior lecturer in the School of Social Sciences and Psychology at Victoria University, Melbourne, says the prospects for international intervention in Papua are not good.
“The president’s recent statements saying that the killings weren’t on all that large a scale, we shouldn’t worry about them too much, is certainly not the sort of statement that a political leader would make who would welcome international intervention,” he said.
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