Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Indonesia has hailed the decision of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) to reject the United Liberation Front for West Papua (ULMWP) as its member.
It is seeing the ULWMPs failure to win MSG full membership as its victory, according to a press statement of the Foreign Affairs Ministry here on Thursday.
From the beginning the Indonesian government has strongly rejected the presence of the separatist ULMWP at any MSG meeting, including at the MSG Summit held in Honiara, Solomon Islands.
"So, Indonesias position in the MSG is very good, meaning we can give an explanation for ULMWP not being accepted as a member of the MSG," Director General for Asia Pacific and Africa at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Desra Percaya said at his office.
He said the success of the Indonesian delegation to convey the countrys view and aspirations at the MSG Summit could be attributed to the efforts it made to settle human right cases in Papua comprehensively through the establishment of an integrated team tasked with collecting data, information and analysis.
"That is the result of the hard work of the team, I think," he said.
The success of Indonesia in maintaining West Papua would be followed by efforts to get MSGs full membership and this will be discussed following the arrival of the Indonesian delegation, which will be led by Director General Desra Percaya.
In the press statement received by Antara on Thursday, Desra expressed appreciation for the decision of the MSG members to reject ULMWP as full member of MSG.
"There is no place for ULMWP in MSGs future," he said.
Desra said active participation and intensive lobbying done by the Indonesian delegation members consisting of representatives from five provinces that have Melanesian cultures - North Maluku, Maluku, East Nusa Tenggara, Papua, West Papua - have successfully convinced leaders of MSG member countries to not accept the application of ULMWP for MSG full membership.
Indonesias Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said MSGs decision was proof of international recognition of Indonesias sovereignty over Papua and West Papua.
"Papua belongs to Indonesia and it will remain our part forever," she said.(WDY)
