The decree by the Papua People’s Assembly (MRP) limiting regent and mayor candidates to Papua natives only is being challenged by Rustan Saru who insists on running for the post of Jayapura mayor.
Rustan is not a native Papuan, which technically rules him out of the race. But he said he would continue to campaign for the post of deputy mayor along with candidate mayor Musa Yan Jouwe.
“I don’t believe I am in breach of any law if I run for the post of deputy mayor,” he said Friday.
Musa Yan Jouwe is a native Papuan but Rustan hails from Makassar, South Sulawesi. He has been a resident of Papua for more than 10 years. The pair is running on the Golkar Party ticket.
The Assembly’s decree states that to be eligible to run, candidates for regent, deputy regent, mayor and deputy mayor must be native Papuans.
The decree was issued based on a gubernatorial decree and has the support of the Papua General Elections Commission (KPUD) and the Papuan and West Papuan administrations.
The election for Jayapura mayor is scheduled for June 28.
Golkar said the pair had support from the party to run for the elections.
Papuan administration legal bureau chief JKH Roembiak said if enacted, the Assembly’s decree would contravene human rights and discriminate against citizens as it violated the Constitution.
He said the decree would come into effect once facilitated by special provincial regulations.
“Similar local regulations requiring candidates to be native Papuans were once issued, but Jakarta
rejected them, saying they ran counter to the Constitution,” he was quoted as saying by Cendrawasih Pos daily.
Party leaders have also voiced their objection to the decree.
“It should not be enacted,” Habel Melkias Suwae, the chairman of Golkar’s Papuan branch, said.
“What is the foundation for this decree? It clearly breaches the law,” Komaruddin Watubun, an official from Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said.
Habel said because the decree had no legal basis, Golkar would continue to be guided by the 2004 Regional Administration Law when contesting elections in Papua.
If the KPUD disqualified Golkar’s nominees for the election, he continued, the party would escalate the issue to the Constitutional Court for arbitration.
“The Assembly’s decree is good because it empowers indigenous Papuans, but it would be better if it had a legal basis. It’s a case of good intentions implemented by violating the law,” said Habel, who is also a Jayapura regent.
Komaruddin said that policies favoring Papuans could not be based on physical features or whether one was a native, but rather, had to consider the consequences, and whether they ultimately would empower Papuans.
“Not all Papuans will be good for Papuans and not all newcomers will be detrimental to the province,”
he said.
He gave the example of former Papua governor Acub Zainal, who was not a native Papuan but who he said had done a lot for the province during his tenure, which ran from 1973 to 1975.
