Political commentator Lamadi de Lamato told Bintang Papua that she should withdraw her name as a member rather than sit as a member of the MRP and keep having her critical remarks pounced on by the central government. According to the logic of the Indonesian state, the policies of the state must be accepted even though they fail to take the side of the Papuan people, he said.
In his opinion, Hana should withdraw her name and wage her struggle from the outside without having to make compromises.
Many Papuans would have far greater respect for her outside the MRP than if she were a member According to Lamadi, insisting that Hana should produce a clarification was virtually an act of terror against an MRP member, warning her not to be critical or consider the aspirations of the Papua people.
‘This is just like what happened under the New Order (of Suharto) and its demands for special investigations ((Litsus) towards people who were regarded as enemies of the state,’ he said.
There are many things that are going wrong in Papua; any protest should not necessarily result in restrictions being imposed on people.
‘Hana should not be treated like an enemy and be forced to be loyal to whatever the state demands. Some people believe that the former chairman of the MRP Agus Alua died because of his disagreements with things coming from central government, but he should not be blamed for that.’
With regard to the recruitment of members of the new MRP, many people feel very disappointed. ‘The state can act as it likes, but these acts of terror should end,’ he said.
As already reported, the new MRP should have 75 members but only 73 were sworn in because two names had been struck off the list, Agus Alua and Hana Hikoyabi. It was said that if these two had delivered written statements of verification, they could both have been appointed as members of the MRP.
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