BY GABRIEL KATUHO
UPNG JOURNALISM STUDENT
WEST Papuans living in Papua New Guinea will now be issued PNG Citizenship certificates to ensure the relationship between PNG and Indonesia is maintained.
FOREIGN Affairs Minister Justin Tkatchenko announced in a statement recently.
Minister Tkatchenko’s announcement follows his recent visit to West Papuans residing at Gerehu in Port Moresby to discuss their issues together.
“When there was some issues a couple of days ago, I personally went to visit the West Papuans in Gerehu and discussed their issues with them directly,” Minister Tkatchenko said.
Minister Tkatchenko said their (West Papuan’s) main concern was to receive their PNG citizenship certificates.
“West Papua is a local issue which National Capital District Commission can deal with and that is to secure the land they are living on in Gerehu.”
He said these are current issues but they need to be sorted out and finalized, especially when the PNG government issued 1000 citizenship certificates for West Papuans.
Tkatchenko said there were about 5000 West Papuans who were yet to receive their citizenship to become Papuan New Guineans.
“They have all applied and we will work closely with the Department of Immigration to finalise and get them to be issued their certificates,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Minister urged West Papuans not to do anything that would jeopardize the ongoing working relationship between PNG and Indonesia.
In a recent bilateral meeting with Indonesian Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi in Bali, Tkatchenko said PNG will work closely with Indonesia to resolve any issue that may come up with West Papua in PNG.
He said PNG will fully respect and support Indonesia as a sovereign nation
“Minister Marsudi spoke in detail especially thanking the PNG government and Foreign Affairs Department for recognising the issue of West Papua as an internal Indonesian matter,” Said Tkatchenko.
