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Ezekiel Massat: Is PNG 'Willing And Ready' To Accept Bougainville Independence?
Bougainville's vice president says the autonomous Papua New Guinea region is going full steam ahead with its political agenda to achieve independence.
Bougainville's leaders have set unilateral non-negotiable deadline of 1 September 2027 for independence from Papua New Guinea.
Ezekiel Massat, who is also the Attorney-General in the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) led by President Ishmael Toroama, told the MPs last week that independence was the "compulsory option in the 2019 referendum".
The 2019 referendum resulted in 97.7 percent of Bougainville's population voting for independence from PNG. While it was non-binding, Massat previously said that "there is nothing... that said the referendum was non-binding".
He rejected claims from the PNG national government "to redefine or reject the outcome" of the referendum.
He said the ABG is pursuing independence through three strategies, which include the Bougainville Peace Agreement (BPA) and referendum, constitutional amendment, and international lobbying.
"I want to remind members of the House that Bougainville can only define independence when it is a sovereign state separate from Papua New Guinea," he said.
He warned any attempt to negotiate outcomes other than independence would "breach the trust of the people", since free association had already been legally rejected.
Massat said the referendum ratification process means endorsing the people's decision, not voting against it.
"The question that must be asked is whether the National Parliament is willing and ready to accept the decision of the people of Bougainville," he said.
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