Agence France Presse - June 7, 2002

Grave of murdered Papuan independence leader vandalised

JAKARTA,

The grave of murdered Papuan independence leader Theys Eluay was vandalised Friday, Indonesian police and a fellow independence leader said.

Thaha al Hamid, the secretary general of the Papua Presidium, said a personwho had been taking pictures of Eluay's grave poured kerosene over it and set it alight early Friday.

"We've asked the people to stay calm and not be provoked, and we've asked thepolice to find the perpetrator," Hamid told reporters before meeting President Megawati Sukarnoputri at the state palace.

Police in the Papuan capital Jayapura said only dead flowers around the grave were burnt. They said they were searching for the culprit.

As president of the presidium, Eluay spearheaded a non-violent campaign for independence for Indonesia's easternmost province.

He was abducted and murdered last November as he was driving home from a military function in Jayapura.

A government-appointed National Investigation Commission has named nine soldiers including six special forces officers as suspects in his murder.

A separate group known as the Free Papua Movement has been waging a sporadic low-level guerrilla struggle for independence since the Dutch ceded control of the resource-rich territory to Indonesia in 1963.