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mediation session between Yogyakarta Governor Hamengkubuwono and Papuan students in Yogyakarta on Friday failed to bridge their differences. The provincial leader insisted on banning the students from engaging in political activities.

The governor said he would not allow the Papuan students to voice their political beliefs, particularly on the campaign for Papuan self-determination.

He conveyed the message during a meeting with representatives of the Papuan students alongside councilors from the Papuan legislative council.

“With regard to politics, the sultan kept restricting us. Nonetheless, we will continue speaking about it. We will not stay silent,” Papuan Students Association chairman Aris Yeimo said after the hearing.

The mediation session was held following a mid-July crackdown against Papuan students to prevent them from conducting a rally in support of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua’s (ULMWP) campaign for membership in the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

During the mediation session, Aris said he told the sultan that following the incident, Papuan students did not feel safe as they were often the target of racist comments from unidentified passersby in front of their dormitory on Jl. Kusumanegara.

A student was even hit by an unidentified motorist in Maguwo, causing him to suffer a broken leg.

Aries said that during the meeting the sultan had expressed his willingness to offer security assurances to Papuan students but refused to apologize for labeling them separatists and for banning them from being in Yogyakarta.

“He just said that if Papuan students engaged in introspection, the statements would be withdrawn,” Aris said.

Aris added that the Sultan had also promised to censure mass organizations yelling racist words against Papuans and to ask the Yogyakarta Police to refrain from surrounding their dormitory.

“We expect the sultan to issue an instruction that will be heard by the people to clean up the negative stigma around us. We want to develop Yogyakarta together,” he said.

Laurenzus Kadepa, a Papuan provincial councilor who joined the meeting, also asked the sultan to take care of Papuan students and people living in Yogyakarta, saying that they were valuable assets.

“That is what we do to people coming to Papua. We take good care of them,” he said.

With regard to the restriction on Papuan students from engaging in politics, Laurenzus said it was their right and should not be restricted. As long as the acts were conducted without violence, then no regulation was violated. Repressive acts, he said, would only create a bad image.

Previously, Natalius Pigai from the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) also said that freedom of speech was guaranteed by the Constitution and that the Convention on Civil and Political Rights had already been ratified by Indonesia.

After the mediation session, the Sultan was not available for comment. The Yogyakarta administration’s acting secretary Rani Sjamsinarsi, who joined in the hearing, also declined to comment.

Yogyakarta Police spokesperson Adj. Sr. Comr. Anny Pudjiastuti has repeatedly denied accusations that the Yogyakarta Police committed repressive actions and violated human rights when dealing with the Papuan students’ rally.

“All was conducted according to standard operating procedures,” she said.