OPM founder meets SBY, seeks RI citizenship

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono received Free Papua Organization (OPM) co-founder Nicholas Jouwe at his private residence in Cikeas, Bogor, on Thursday.

At the meeting, Nicholas asked the President to grant him Indonesian nationality, which would allow him to return to Indonesia permanently, after spending more than 40 years in exile in the Netherlands.

“Nicholas wishes to spend his final years building Papua using the region’s special autonomy rights,” one of the founders of the Independent Group Supporting the Autonomous Region of Papua within The Republic of Indonesia (IGSARPRI) Franzalbert Yoku said as quoted by Antara news agency.

He added that Nicholas planned to move back to his homeland of Papua with his two daughters in the future.

The OPM emerged in the late 1960s to oppose the allegedly undemocratic *Act of Free Choice,’ which resulted in the territory becoming a part of Indonesia.

On July 1, 1971, Nicholas, along with the two other founders of the OPM, declared the independence of West Papua.

However, the movement has waned over time due to factionalism and constant pressure by the Indonesian military.

According to Franzalbert, the 85 year old Nicholas visited Yudhoyono’s residence and discussed the future of Papua within the frame of Indonesia.

The talks lasted for about an hour, well over the initially planned 25 minutes.

“Nicolas asked the President to ensure that all problems in the region be handled in a rightful manner, that no human rights violations should recur in Papua in the future, as well as that all the political prisoners be acquitted,” he said.

The OPM founder also requested the President form a Papuan Authority to handle the development of the province, Franzalbert said.

Nicholas said the government must take serious steps to eradicate corruption that is currently plaguing Papua, sinking its people even deeper into poverty.

The President responded positively to the talks, and even asked Nicholas to participate in resolving the region’s problems, Franzalbert said.

“The President hopes that Nicholas will help develop the country according to his abilities, to ensure Indonesia’s integrity,” added the Papuan integration figure. (dis)

Source : The Jakarta Post

Papua rebel drops independence claim: Indonesia

The co-founder of a Papuan rebel group fighting to split from Indonesia has returned after more than 40 years in exile to renounce the independence struggle, officials said Thursday. Nicholas Jouwe, the 85-year-old co-founder the the Free Papua Movement (OPM), arrived in Jakarta from the Netherlands Wednesday and is scheduled to meet Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie Friday, ministry official Rizal Mallarangeng was quoted by AFP as telling reporters.
Jouwe, the creator of the banned “Morning Star” independence flag of the remote eastern region, is scheduled to renounce the OPM’s aims in a ceremony with Bakrie. “He will symbolically surrender his ‘Morning Star’ pin. He will acknowledge the existence of the Republic of Indonesia and the end of his struggle,” Mallarangeng said.

Jouwe is set to travel to Papua after the ceremony. “We hope that Nicholas will hold peace talks with the insurgent Papuans who want a referendum. But we’re not going to push him as he’s already 85 years old,” Mallarangeng said. “Although OPM has no structural organisation, he still has a huge moral influence,” he said. Papua sits on the western end of New Guinea island, where armed rebels have waged a low-level insurgency since its incorporation into Indonesia in the 1960s, in a vote by select tribal elders widely seen as a sham.

Source : ANTARA News

Returning OPM founder renounces independence

Nicolas Jouwe, cofounder of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) has arrived in Jakarta after 40 years exile in the Netherlands to renounce the restive province’s indepen-dence struggle, officials here said Thursday. The 84-year old Papuan figure fled to the Netherlands in the 1950s and has not returned to Indonesia until now. He was said to have created the banned Morning Star flag for the rebel group.
Nicolas arrived Wednesday in Jakarta for talks with government leaders aimed at helping put an end to more than 40 years of hostility between the country and the OPM. He will meet Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare Aburizal Bakrie on Friday and will travel to Papua soon. “Nicolas Jouwe is the only OPM founding father who is still alive. He is intelligent and was fully committed to an independent Papua,” Indonesian Ambassador to the Netherlands J.E. “Fany” Habibie said at a press conference here Thursday.

“He had refused to meet with Indonesian officials for dozens of years, but finally, he is willing to come to Indonesia. He even said he wants to be President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s adviser on Papua matters,” he said. Fany said Nicolas changed his stance after their meeting in the Netherlands, in which they were engaged in light and serious talks and even shared jokes and exchanged quatrains in the Ambonese language.

“I told him I didn’t want Papua to be my neighbour, but I wanted it to be my family. I said the condition has changed now; there are schools, houses… The government has changed,” Fany said. He said Nicolas asked the central government to impose sanctions on local officials embezzling Papua’s special autonomy funds. Nicolas also called on OPM members to cease their separatist movement and support the unitary state of Indonesia.

“(I hereby) call all Papuan fighters in jungles and abroad to rebuild Papua within the frame of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia,” Fany said, quoting a written statement from Nicolas. However, this seemingly significant step toward peace for Papua is still fragile, the ambassador said, warning the government to handle this matter very carefully.

Fany held a meeting with Nicolas in late February, following the recent arrival of an Indonesian delegation to “lobby” the senior separatist leader in the Netherlands. It was President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who sent the delegation after military operations have failed to stop the separatist fighting. Aburizal’s special assistant Rizal Mallarangeng said it was too early to expect the OPM to instantly halt its operations just because of Nicolas’ renouncement.

He said Nicolas is not a structural leader of OPM, and the rebel group is not a solid organization. “However, symbolically he still has a huge moral influence for OPM activists and at the international level. This will help us in international diplomacy,” Rizal said. He said Indonesia would try to convince Nicolas that development, and not independence, was the solution to combat poverty in Papua.

Source : The Jakarta Post

History of Jayapura

History of Jayapura In the book of Nagara-Kertagama writen by Rakawi Prapanca of Majapahit, under the rule of King Hayam Wuruk, in 1365 A.D, it was mentioned that West Papua was belong to Majapahit Kingdom territory. In one of its paragraphs mentioned “Muwah tikhan i wandan, ambwan (Ambon) athawa maloko wwanin (Fakfak)” were the sovereign territory of Majapahit Kingdom.

However, the Dutch began serious exploration in about 1898. During Ducth Colonialization, Jayapura City had become a Defense Post of Dutch Army in Pacific area. The Dutch government was assigned P. Windhower at Debi Island, a little island in Yotefa Bay in 1908. In 1912 the post was moved to a mouth of Numbai river, which is a small river that is mouthed in Yos Yudarso Bay. In a formal ceremony, this mouth of Numbai river then named Hollandia on March 7, 1910. The date was then decided to be the birth date of Jayapura. The status of Hollandia City which was a district had become the government Provincial City. Some of the events happened after this moment were the name of Hollandia was changed into New City, then Sukarnopura and finally Jayapura. However, West Papua is Indonesia’s “wild east”. Much of it was still unexplored by outsiders in the 1930s. Allied (American and Australian) forces passed through here in 1944 on the way to the reconquest of the Philippines. After the Indonesians defeated the Dutch in 1949 and 1950, the Dutch insisted on keeping Irian Jaya. They finally gave up the colony in 1963, under a combination of military and diplomatic pressure. In 1969, a UN-sponsored referendum led to Irian Jaya becoming a province of Indonesia. The vast development forced the Region Government to split Jayapura to two districts: North Jayapura and South Jayapura. In 1988, Jayapura was become Administrative City and then in 1993 became Jayapura madya City. Lately, with the Act of Region Government number 22 year 1999, it was then becoming Jayapura City. (Lhernot)

The history of Papua as an integral part of the territory of the RI is clear

The status of the Province of Papua as part of Indonesia is final and was endorsed in 1970 by General Assembly Resolution 2504, because Papua was an integral part of the Netherlands East Indies (NEI). Historically, the Dutch colonial government administered from Batavia (presently Jakarta) the whole territory of NEI.

It is noted that the indivisibility of Papua as part of NEI was recognized in the London Agreement of 1824 between Great Britain and the Netherlands as well as reflected in the 1825 Map of the NEI which places Papua as its easternmost boundary.

Indonesia’s founding fathers, when declaring Indonesia independence, refer to the whole territory of NEI as the legitimate territory of Indonesia. This is in line with the principle of “Usi Posidentis” in which the successor state would inherit the whole territorial boundary of a colony.

Relating with a referendum was held in 1969, it can be mentioned that it is legal and unquestioned. Some who say that the documents portray the 1969 “Act of Free Choice” (AFC) as a sham because it excluded most Papuans is the only way voiced by them who want to endanger Indonesia’s territorial integrity and ruin its democracy. A total of 1025 electors (Papuan tribal chiefs) who joined the 1969 legal referendum represented all indigenous segments and tribes within West Papua.

This approach was selected as being the most appropriate given the logistical difficulties created by the region’s geography, and local political circumstances that dictated that tribal chiefs spoke for and expressedthe will of their native communities. The exercise drew extra credibility from the fact that it was carried out in accordance with the New York Agreement struck between Indonesia and the Netherlands.

The final seal of legitimacy, however, came from the United Nations’ decision, based on a report by the UN Secretary-General, to recognize West Papua as a part of Indonesian territory. Therefore, Foreign Affairs Minister Ben Bot assessed the report concerning the 1969 referendum compiled by the Professor of Diplomatic History at the University of Leiden, Pieter Drooglever, as stated at Hilversum Radio was only the scientific paper which can not change the history.

The world has become the witness that the Pepera (Act of Free Choice) implementation was legal due to under the UN supervision and control. Understanding the 1969 situation was similar with the recent and peaceful general election in West Papua province in which about 1.1 million people, or more than 90 per cent of those eligible to vote, took part in the election.

The result saw Barnabas Saebu become Governor-elect with roughly 30 per cent of the vote. It was indicates that, despite allegations to the contrary, the vast majority of West Papuans independently choose to exercise their right to vote without any government or military pressure.

Last August 17, 2005 President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said, according to the international law, there is no more reason to doubt the legitimacy of Papua as an integral part of the territorial sovereignty of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia.

The president added, every cabinet’s program from the revolutionary era to the parliamentary democratic system was always mentioning the West Papua as an integral part of Indonesia. There exist no manipulations of history that must be revised. The history of Papua as an integral part of the territory of the RI is clear and West Papuans are happy to be Indonesians (Lhernot)