PAPUAN SEPARATIST LEADER RETURNS TO INDONESIA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000521 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/ANP, EAP/RSP NSC FOR E.PHU E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/23/2019 TAGS: PGOV PINS ID SUBJECT: PAPUAN SEPARATIST LEADER RETURNS TO INDONESIA REF: A. JAKARTA 396 ¶B. 08 JAKARTA 2233 Classified By: Pol/C Joseph L. Novak, reasons 1.4(b+d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Longtime Papuan separatist leader Nicholas Jouwe has visited Indonesia after over forty years of self-imposed exile in the Netherlands. He held talks with senior Indonesian officials in Jakarta and visited Papua where he reportedly welcomed GOI efforts to improve conditions. Jouwe's visit signals the GOI's willingness to talk about sensitive matters with someone it has long considered an adversary. Separately, a break-away faction of Papuan separatists continues to mount scattered attacks in the province's remote highland regions. Security forces have responded with restraint. END SUMMARY. A SEPARATIST LEADER RETURNS ¶2. (C) Papuan separatist leader Nicholas Jouwe returned to Indonesia on March 19 after over forty years of self-imposed exile in the Netherlands. The Indonesian government had quietly opened discussions with Jouwe several months ago through Jusuf Effendy Habibie, the Indonesian Ambassador in The Hague. Habibie had conveyed President Yudhoyono's personal invitation for Jouwe to visit Indonesia. Aburizal Bakrie, Coordinating Minister for Peoples' Welfare, had also helped to arrange Jouwe's visit. ¶3. (SBU) The 84-year old Jouwe is the only surviving founder of the Papua Freedom Movement (OPM) and a key figure in the Papuan independence movement. He designed the "Morning Star" Flag, which many Papuans regard as a symbol of political sovereignty. (Note: Because of these associations, the GOI has banned the use of the flag.) Jouwe left for the Netherlands in 1962, when the Dutch, who were in control of Papua, prepared to hand the territory over to Indonesia through a UN-supervised transition period. ¶4. (C) Jouwe met a range of Indonesian officials, including President Yudhoyono, during his trip. After an initial meeting with Bakrie on March 20 in Jakarta, Jouwe traveled to Jayapura, the Papuan provincial capital, where a large crowd of supporters welcomed him on March 23. Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu and Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Freddy Numberi, the only Papuan in the Cabinet, accompanied Jouwe to Papua. Suebu briefed Jouwe on the provincial government's development plans, particularly the Village-Based Development Program (RESPEK) that Suebu has championed. Jouwe acknowledged that RESPEK and other provincial government programs had improved the lives of Papuans. ¶5. (C) Jouwe continues to send mixed signals regarding his commitment to Papua's independence. In a written statement issued on his arrival, Jouwe called on OPM fighters to abandon the independence struggle and commit to developing Papua within Indonesia. However, in a press conference with Bakrie he referred to Indonesia as a "neighboring country," a statement widely interpreted as leaving open the possibility of Papuan independence. He also called for greater dialogue between the central government and Papua regarding sensitive political issues, such as the process by which Indonesia took control of Papua. ANOTHER FIGHTS ON ¶6. (C) Other elements of the OPM show no sign of giving up the armed independence struggle. OPM fighters under the leadership of Goliath Tabuni have carried out a series of attacks in the central highlands since January, when they raided a police post and stole several automatic weapons. In the most recent incident on March 15 OPM fighters killed an Indonesian soldier in Puncak Jaya district. They had previously killed two civilians and seriously wounded several other people in the remote mountain region. ¶7. (C) So far, the attacks have had little impact. Several well-informed Papua contacts speculated to poloff that Tabuni had mounted the attacks in the run-up to Indonesia's elections in the hopes of provoking Indonesian security forces into a heavy-handed response. That might generate popular support for the OPM in Papua and attract international attention to their cause. So far, however, the security forces have acted with restraint. Police officials in Jayapura told poloff they did not plan any large-scale operations in the highlands in pursuit of Tabuni and his group. They acknowledged such operations often sowed fear JAKARTA 00000521 002 OF 002 among local communities and bred distrust of the police. Instead, authorities are encouraging people in the highland area to provide information about Tabuni's whereabouts. Military officials have acknowledged that the police have the lead in the matter and pledged to remain involved absent a request from the police for assistance. TOWARD GREATER DIALOGUE? ¶8. (C) The OPM remains a fractured and decentralized movement rather than a cohesive organization. It is unlikely that Jouwe exercises any operational control over Tabuni's group or other splinter factions fighting for independence. The OPM remains ill-equipped and poorly organized and does not represent any viable threat to the security of the Indonesian state. However, small groups of OPM fighters in the highlands remain a significant nuisance for Indonesian security forces. The possibility of a heavy-handed police or military response also remains a danger, particularly if the attacks continue unabated. ¶9. (C) Jouwe's return to Indonesia has more symbolic than practical importance, at least in the short term. It will not put an end to attacks by armed separatists like Goliath Tabuni. However, it still represents a step forward. Like the September 2008 visit of Free Aceh Movement (GAM) founder Hasan Di Tiro, it signals the Indonesian government's willingness to engage in a dialogue on sensitive issues with an individual it has long regarded as an adversary. (See Ref A for a discussion of the Indonesian government's nascent efforts to begin a dialogue with Papuans on a range of sensitive issues. See Ref B for a discussion of the Di Tiro visit.) Jouwe's willingness to engage Indonesian officials on these matters will likely carry considerable weight with Papuans, who still respect him as a prominent independence leader. HUME