The Jakarta Post
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will officiate several projects in West Papua province during his visit Thursday to Mansinam Island in Doreh Bay, just off the coast from the provincial capital Manokwari. On Wednesday, West Papua Secretary George C. Auparai told reporters the projects had been carried out over the past two-and-a-half years and were spread out across the 31st province. Mansinam Island was selected for Thursday's ceremony because Papuans from both West Papua and Papua provinces consider it a sacred island that spawned Papuan civilization. That date is celebrated as Feb. 5, 1855, when German missionaries C.W. Ottow and J.G. Geissler landed on the island and began introducing the natives to Christianity. That was the day Papuans first came into contact with the outside world, with many Papuans thus recognizing it as the dawn of their civilizat...