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reer media could help end recurring violence in the restive province of Papua and save Indonesia's reputation as an emerging democracy, analysts said Monday.

The government should lift restrictions on local and foreign journalists wanting to cover Papua, Ignatius Haryanto of the Institute for Press and Development Studies said, adding that as Indonesia had moved closer toward a democracy the policy had become outdated.

"We can no longer try to cover up what is happening in Papua," he said. "Let the international community know there are problems in Papua, and let them know that the Indonesian government is doing something to resolve them."

Foreign rights activists have criticized Indonesia's policy to restrict media coverage in Papua, accusing Jakarta of covering up human rights abuses allegedly committed by its military against native Papuans. This policy was issued during the New Order administration.

An Australian filmmaker, Jono van Hest, recently claimed to have smuggled six cameras into the province to make a documentary on the plight of the Papuan separatists. The documentary was scheduled to be screened by television news network Al-Jazeera English early this month, but was apparently pulled hours before its scheduled screening.

Al-Jazeera did not provide an explanation for its decision, which led to speculation the news channel had faced pressure from Jakarta.

The Foreign Ministry's Director of Information and Media, Soehardjono Sastromihardjo, denied that the government was trying to cover anything up in Papua, saying the policy was purely for security reasons. "We lifted media restrictions in Aceh. It is not the right time yet for Papua," he said.

The Foreign Ministry had not banned foreign media from entering Papua, but does require foreign media to file official requests before going there and is also more selective in giving permits, he added.

The government should not be worried about foreign journalists writing negative stories about Papua, said Muridan S. Widjojo, a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Science. "I do not think all foreign journalists and researchers are biased when they write about Papua. Many are objective," he said, adding that the restrictions were definitely tainting Indonesia's democratic image abroad.

He argued the root of problems in Papua was a lack of willingness from Jakarta to be more transparent to the public about what was really happening there. As a consequence, he said, "We always view Papua in the context of separatism."

He further argued that the lack of transparency had led to a mutual distrust between the central government and Papuans, a factor that has proven counterproductive to security and development in the resource-rich but impoverished province.

"They are wasting much of their energy on this separatism issue, overlooking human rights and development issues, which are actually the root cause of the recurring violence," Widjojo said.

Widjojo urged the government to completely resolve cases of violence in the province to avoid speculation that separatists or the military were behind them. "Police actually have the capability to solve those cases, but they seem to face political hindrance to do so," he said.