TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - House of Representatives (DPR) deputy chairman, Pramono Agung, has asked the government to be firm against people and institutions who support separatist movements.
The politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said if the nation hears any signs of separatism overseas, the government is obliged to send out a warning.
Pramono released his statement due to senior Free Papua Movement (OPM) figure Benny Wenda’s recent actions. Last April, Wenda established the OPM’s first international branch office in Oxford, the United Kingdom. This week, Wenda was said to have spoken at a TEDx forum in Australia.
Pramono urged the Foreign Ministry to find out who was behind the forum that invited Wenda as a speaker. "If it was not a formal forum, then it was a political dynamic in the country (where it took place)," he said.
WAYAN AGUS PURNOMO