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The Indonesian Armed Forces said on Tuesday that it would not seek to influence President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s response to an open letter from two US congressmen regarding the restive Papua region.

“If they [the congressmen] sent the letter to the president, we shall wait for the answer from the president,” military spokesman Air Vice Marshall Sagom Tamboen said.

US congressmen Eni Faleomavaega, chairman of the subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the global environment, and Donald Payne, chairman of the subcommittee on Africa and global health, sent the letter on Monday.

They called on Yudhoyono to create an internationally mediated commission to oversee a dialogue between the Indonesian government and the leaders of West Papua.

In the letter, the congressmen noted that dozens of prominent leaders and organizations in West Papua, as well as key Indonesian leaders and intellectuals, supported such a dialogue, which would be analogous to one successfully held in Aceh.

The letter urged Yudhoyono “to seize the opportunity provided by these developments to establish a similar process for West Papua.”

“We believe that such a process would build on important steps Indonesia has taken in recent years, such as accession to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In becoming a signatory to that agreement, Indonesia clearly expressed its commitment to establishing legal protections for indigenous citizens, including Papuans,” the letter states.

After being asked to comment on the congressmen’s suggestions, Sagom said Indonesia was a sovereign nation that would solve its internal problems its own way. “It is OK for everyone to give suggestions on establishing a new committee. But such a suggestion is not urgent enough to be implemented,” he said.

Sagom added that if the suggestions were triggered by security issues, particularly dealing with armed attacks against workers at the Freeport McMoRan copper and gold mine, Indonesian security agencies are committed to settling any problems.

Separately, Rusdi Marpaung managing director of Imparsial, a nongovernmental organization focusing on human rights and military issues, said a majority of Indonesian people want peace in Papua.

He added that the international community’s interest in Papua was reasonable, given the area’s vast natural resources.

“And they can see what has been achieved in Aceh, where the problems were settled through a joint effort with the international community,” he said.