JAKARTA, Indonesia — Lawyers are challenging Indonesia’s incorporation of the volatile Papua region into its territory in 1969 with a judicial review at the country’s highest court. A spokesman for a group of 15 Papuan lawyers, Agus Sumule, said Thursday the “Act of Free Choice” referendum violated Indonesia’s constitution because it was conducted in a way that grossly violated the human rights of Papuans. Its umbrella body, the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, does not support the case and instead continues to endorse a strategy of attempting to bring the plight of Papuans to the International Court of Justice. Indonesia restricts foreign media from reporting in its two easternmost provinces, West Papua and Papua, where an insurgency has simmered since Indonesia occupied the former Dutch colony in the early 1960s. Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said the Papua issue is “finished.”“For us, Papua cannot be discussed anymore.

Source: National Post April 25, 2019 08:41 UTC