Doing democracy

In March I spent a morning , at the invitation of my friend Alastair McIntosh, meeting a group from Papua who were interested in the process of devolution, land reform and  community empowerment.  

Today I hosted a visit to the Parliament by one of that original delegation,  Yan P Mandenas who is a member of the Papua Provincial Parliament and the leader of one of the Papuan political parties.   He was accompanied by two translators and by a senior official from the Parliament although others due to come were delayed by visa issues.  

Yan - like many in Papua apparently -  is very interested in the Scottish Parliament and the level of  peaceful engagement in politics  here.   The Parliament's Chief Executive Paul Grice hosted a small lunch for him and before that  he watched First Minister's Questions and was then  greeted by the Presiding Officer, Tricia Marwick. 

Given the struggles that Yan and his colleagues have to establish  , entrench and expand a democratic institution at home (the present limited devolved settlement within Indonesia has a time limit of 25 years and 15 have already gone) It seemed appropriate to take their picture below the portrait of the first First Minister and one of the key architects of devolution, Donald Dewar.    

We had our differences on the final destination, but he was instrumental in making sure that Scotland was enabled to start on its journey and he was always clear that it was up to Scotland how far it went.