Government to make legal umbrella for West Papua, Yudhoyono says

"In a meeting, I and leading figures from Papua and West Papua provinces agreed to make a government regulation in lieu of law on the existence of West Papua to make all become clear," the president said after receiving leading figures from Papua and West Papua here Tuesday.

The head of state also agreed to form a coordination agency which would deal with special autonomy funds allocated for Papua and West Papua provinces.

"There are a lot of funds for special autonomy programs and thus a coordination agency is needed to manage them (the funds)," the president said.

The structure of the agency would be made in line with the needs of government institutions in Papua and West Papua, and if it was considered proportional and efficient the president would approve it, he said.

He also called on relevant parties to be prudent in their programs to split certain areas in Indonesia under good plans.

"I received insights from leading figures from Papua and West Papua that they (the provinces) should follow other provinces in Indonesia which have exercised moratorium on the process to split their regions," he said.

The president agreed that the splitting of regions should give advantages to all people, not only to a number of persons.