Horta backs Jokowi to solve Papua problems

Photo: ramoshorta.com

The former president of East Timor, Jose Ramos Horta, says he does not think an independence campaign for Indonesia's West Papua province will be successful. 

He told the ABC solutions for the betterment of the people of West Papua had to be realised in the context of Indonesian sovereignty. Mr Ramos Horta who is now a UN Special representative says if anyone can help redressing the challenges and problems in West Papua it would be Indonesia's president Joko Widodo. 

He urged what he called the West Papuan elites to seize the opportunity with a new president to find the best possible arrangement between Jakarta and West Papua. Mr Ramos Horta was East Timor's second president after independence in 2002. He was involved in East Timor's struggle for independence as a founder of the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor or Fretilin.

This is an old article published by RNZ in 2015.