Free Papua Movement
Encyclopedia
Militant
The word militant, which is both an adjective and a noun, usually is used to mean vigorously active, combative and aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in 'militant reformers'. It comes from the 15th century Latin "militare" meaning "to serve as a soldier"...
organisation established in 1965 to encourage and effect the violent overthrow of the current governments in the Papua
Papua (Indonesian province)
Papua comprises most of the western half of the island of New Guinea and nearby islands. Its capital is Jayapura. It's the largest and easternmost province of Indonesia. The province originally covered the entire western half of New Guinea...
and West Papua provinces of Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, formerly known as Irian Jaya to secede
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
from Indonesia, and to reject economic development
Economic development
Economic development generally refers to the sustained, concerted actions of policymakers and communities that promote the standard of living and economic health of a specific area...
and modernity as well as to eliminate non-native populations in the island.
The movement is outlawed in Indonesia, and agitating for independence for the provinces may incur charges of treason. Since its inception the OPM has attempted diplomatic dialogue, conducted Morning Star flag-raising ceremonies, and undertaken militant actions as part of the Papua conflict
Papua Conflict
The Papua conflict is an ethnic separatist insurgency in Indonesia, predominantly in the Papua and West Papua provinces on the island of New Guinea. Since the withdrawal of the Dutch colonizers in 1963, the militant Free Papua Movement organization has conducted a low-level campaign of attacks on...
. Supporters routinely display the Morning Star flag and other symbols of Papuan unity which had been adopted in the period 1961 until Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
n administration began in May 1963 under the New York Agreement
New York Agreement
The Agreement between the Republic of Indonesia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands Concerning West New Guinea , also known as the New York Agreement, was a treaty signed between Indonesia and the Netherlands on the political status of West New Guinea...
.
History
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Netherlands East Indies (to become Indonesia) was guided by Sukarno
Sukarno
Sukarno, born Kusno Sosrodihardjo was the first President of Indonesia.Sukarno was the leader of his country's struggle for independence from the Netherlands and was Indonesia's first President from 1945 to 1967...
to supply oil for the Japanese war effort
Pacific War
The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...
and subsequently declared independence as the Republic of Indonesia in 17 August 1945. The Netherlands New Guinea
Netherlands New Guinea
Netherlands New Guinea refers to the West Papua region while it was an overseas territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1949 to 1962. Until 1949 it was a part of the Netherlands Indies. It was commonly known as Dutch New Guinea...
(Western New Guinea) and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n administrated territories of Papua
Papua (Australian territory)
The Territory of Papua comprised the southeastern quarter of the island of New Guinea from 1883 to 1949. It became a British Protectorate in the year 1884, and four years later it was formally annexed as British New Guinea...
and British New Guinea resisted Japanese control and were allies with the American and Australian forces during the Pacific War
Pacific War
The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...
.
The pre-war relationship of the Netherlands and Netherlands New Guinea
Netherlands New Guinea
Netherlands New Guinea refers to the West Papua region while it was an overseas territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1949 to 1962. Until 1949 it was a part of the Netherlands Indies. It was commonly known as Dutch New Guinea...
was replaced with the promotion of Papuan civil and other services until Indonesian administration began in 1963. Though there was agreement between Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
by 1957 that it would be preferable for their territories to unite for independence, the lack of development in the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n territories and the interests of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
kept the two regions separate. The OPM was founded in December 1963, with the announcement that "We do not want modern life! We refuse any kinds of development: religious groups, aid agencies, and governmental organizations just Leave Us Alone!"
Netherlands New Guinea
Netherlands New Guinea
Netherlands New Guinea refers to the West Papua region while it was an overseas territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1949 to 1962. Until 1949 it was a part of the Netherlands Indies. It was commonly known as Dutch New Guinea...
held elections in January 1961 and a New Guinea Council
New Guinea Council
The New Guinea Council was a unicameral representative body formed in the Dutch colony of Netherlands New Guinea in 1961. The council was inaugurated on 5 April 1961 with 28 council members, 16 of whom had been elected in elections held during January 1961....
was inaugurated in April 1961. However, in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
the National Security Advisor
National Security Advisor
A National Security Advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. He or she is not usually a member of the Cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils....
McGeorge Bundy
McGeorge Bundy
McGeorge "Mac" Bundy was United States National Security Advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson from 1961 through 1966, and president of the Ford Foundation from 1966 through 1979...
began to lobbied US President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
to negotiate for Indonesia the trade of West New Guinea to Indonesian control; the resulting New York Agreement
New York Agreement
The Agreement between the Republic of Indonesia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands Concerning West New Guinea , also known as the New York Agreement, was a treaty signed between Indonesia and the Netherlands on the political status of West New Guinea...
was drafted by Robert Kennedy and signed by the Netherlands, Indonesia and United Nations in August 1962.
Although the Netherlands had insisted the West New Guinea people be allowed self-determination in accord with the United Nations charter and General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV) which was to be called the "Act of Free Choice"; the New York Agreement instead provided a seven year delay and gave the United Nations no authority to supervise the act. Separatist groups raise the West Papua Morning Star flag each year on 1 December, which they call "Papuan independence day". An Indonesian police officer speculated that people doing this could be charged with the crime of treason, which carries the penalty of imprisonment for seven to twenty years in Indonesia.
In October 1968 Mr Nicolaas Jouwe
Nicolaas Jouwe
Nicolaas Jouwe is a Papuan leader who was elected vice president of the New Guinea Council that governed the Dutch colony of Netherlands New Guinea. As the president of the New Guinea Council was the Dutch civil servant Frits Sollewijn Gelpke, Jouwe was the highest ranking Papuan politician in the...
, member of the New Guinea Council and of the National Committee
National Committee for West Papua
The National Committee for West Papua is a Papuan peoples' group campaigning for independence of Papua and West Papua....
elected by the Council in 1962, lobbied the United Nations claiming 30,000 Indonesian troops and thousands of Indonesian civil servants were repressing the Papuan population. According to US Ambassador Galbraith, the Indonesian Foreign Minister Adam Malik also believed the Indonesian military was the cause of problems in the territory and the number of troops should be reduced by at least one half. Ambassador Galbraith further described the OPM to "represent an amorphous mass of anti-Indonesia sentiment" with "possibly 85 to 90 percent [of Papuans], are in sympathy with the Free Papua cause or at least intensely dislike Indonesians".
Brigadier General Sarwo Edhie
Sarwo Edhie Wibowo
Sarwo Edhie Wibowo was one of Indonesia's most famous Generals.-Early life:Sarwo Edhie was born in Purworejo, Central Java to a family of civil servants working for the Dutch Colonial Government. As a child, he learned silat as a form of self-defense...
oversaw the design and conduct of the Act of Free Choice
Act of Free Choice
Act of Free Choice was an event in July to August 1969 by which Indonesia asserts that the Western New Guinea population decided to relinquish their sovereignty in favor of Indonesian citizenship...
which took place from 14 July to 2 August 1969. The United Nations representative Ambassador Oritiz Sanz arrived on 22 August 1968 and made repeated requests for to the Brigadier-General for Indonesia to allow a one man, one vote system (a process known as a referendum or plebiscite) but these requests were refused on the grounds that such activity was not specified nor requested by the 1962 New York Agreement. One thousand and twenty five Papuan elders were selected from and instructed on the required procedure as specified by the article 1962 New York Agreement. The result was a consensus for integration.
Republic of West Papua declaration
Jacob Prai
Jacob Prai was previously the Head of the Senate of West Papua Provisional Government proclaimed in Great Waris, border area between Papua New Guinea and West Papua, Prai's homeland....
, planned to announce Papuan Independence in 1971. On 1 July 1971 Roemkorem and Prai declared a Republic of West Papua
Republic of West Papua
The Republic of West Papua is a proposed but unrecognised separatist state in the Western New Guinea region that was unilaterally declared during the temporary United Nations administration of the region in 1963. There are few organizations that fight for West Papuan independence. One of them is...
, and drafted a constitution.
Conflicts over strategy between Roemkorem and Prai soon initiated a split of the OPM into two factions; the PEMKA led by Prai, and TPN led by Roemkorem. This greatly weakened OPM's ability as a centralized combat force. It remains widely used, however, invoked by both contemporary fighters and domestic and expatriate political activists.
Starting from 1976, officials at mining company Freeport Indonesia
Freeport-McMoRan
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., often called simply Freeport, is the world's lowest-cost copper producer and one of the world's largest producers of gold...
received letters from the OPM threatening the company and demanding assistance in a planned uprising in the spring. The company refused to cooperate with OPM. From July 23 until September 7, 1977, OPM insurgents carried out their threats against Freeport and cut slurry
Slurry
A slurry is, in general, a thick suspension of solids in a liquid.-Examples of slurries:Examples of slurries include:* Lahars* A mixture of water and cement to form concrete* A mixture of water, gelling agent, and oxidizers used as an explosive...
and fuel pipelines
Pipeline transport
Pipeline transport is the transportation of goods through a pipe. Most commonly, liquids and gases are sent, but pneumatic tubes that transport solid capsules using compressed air are also used....
, slashed telephone and power cables, burned down a warehouse, and detonated explosives at various facilities. Freeport estimated the damage at $123,871.23.
In 1982 a OPM Revolutionary Council (OPMRC) was established, and under the chairmanship of Moses Werror the OPMRC has sought independence through an International Diplomacy campaign. OPMRC aims to obtain international recognition for West Papuan independence through international forums such as the United Nations, The Non-Aligned Movement
Non-Aligned Movement
The Non-Aligned Movement is a group of states considering themselves not aligned formally with or against any major power bloc. As of 2011, the movement had 120 members and 17 observer countries...
of Nations, The South Pacific Forum, and The Association of South East Asian Nations.
In 1984 OPM staged an attack on Jayapura
Jayapura
Jayapura City is the capital of Papua province, Indonesia, on the island of New Guinea. It is situated on Yos Sudarso Bay . Its approximate population in 2002 was 200,000....
, the provincial capital and a city dominated by non-Melanesian Indonesians. The attack was quickly repelled by the Indonesian military, who followed it with broader counter-insurgency activity. This triggered an exodus of Papuan refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s, apparently supported by the OPM, into camps across the border in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
.
On February 14, 1986, Freeport Indonesia received information that the OPM was again becoming active in their area, and that some of Freeport's employees were OPM members or sympathizers. On February 18, a letter signed by a "Rebel General" warned that "On Wed. 19th, there will be some rain on Tembagapura
Tembagapura
Tembagapura is a town built to support the Grasberg Mine in the Indonesian province of Papua. Construction of the mine and its infrastructure including the town, commenced in the late-1960s....
". At around 10:00 p.m. that night several unidentified people cut Freeport's slurry and fuel pipelines by hacksaw, causing "a substantial loss of slurry, containing copper, silver, and gold ores, and diesel fuel." Additionally, the saboteurs set fire along the breaks in the fuel line, and shot at police that tried to approach the fires. On April 14th of that same year, OPM insurgents cut more pipelines, slashed electric wires, vandalized plumbing, and burned equipment tires. Repair crews were attacked by OPM gunfire as they approached the sites of the damage, so Freeport requested police and military assistance.
In separate incidents in January and August 1996, OPM captured European and Indonesian hostages; first from a research group and later from a logging camp. Two hostages from the former group were killed and the rest were released.
In July 1998 the OPM raised their independence flag at the Kota Biak water tower on the island of Biak
Biak
Biak features a tropical rainforest climate with nearly identical temperatures throughout the course of the year. The average annual temperature in the city is 27 degrees celsius, which is also generally the average temperature of each day in Biak...
. They stayed there for the following few days before the Indonesian Military broke up the group. Filep Karma
Filep Karma
Filep Jacob Semuel Karma , commonly known as Filep Karma, is a Papuan independence activist currently imprisoned for raising the Flag of West Papua in Jayapura, the capital of Indonesia's Papua Province...
was among those arrested.
On 24 October 2011, Adj. Comr. Dominggus Oktavianus Awes, the Mulia Police chief, was shot by unknown assailants at Mulia Airport in Puncak Jaya regency. National Police of Indonesia alleging that the perpetrators were members of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) separatist group. The series of attacks on Indonesian authority has prompted deployments of more personnel to Papua in the wake of a local officer’s murder, allegedly orchestrated by separatists in the region.
Organisation
The internal organization of OPM is difficult to determine. In 1996 OPM's 'Supreme Commander' was Mathias Wenda. An OPM spokesperson in Sydney, John Otto OndawameJohn Ondawame
John Otto Ondawame is an academic and activist of the West Papua liberation movement. He is the head of West Papua People’s Representative Office at Port Vila, Vanuatu, international spokesperson for the Free Papua Movement, and member of the Papua Presidium Council...
, says it has nine more or less independent commands. Australian freelance journalist, Ben Bohane, says it has seven independent commands. Tentara Nasional Indonesia (TNI), Indonesia's army, says the OPM has two main wings, the 'Victoria Headquarters' and 'Defenders of Truth'. The former is small, and was led by M L Prawar until he was shot dead in 1991. The latter is much larger and operates all over West Papua.
The larger organization, or 'Defender of the Truth' or Pembela Kebenaran (henceforth PEMKA), chaired by Mr. Jacob Prai, and Seth Roemkorem was the leader of Victoria Faction. During the killing of Prawar, Roemkorem was his commander.
Prior to this separation, TPN/OPM was one, under the leadership of Seth Roemkorem as the Commander of OPM, then the President of West Papua Provisional Government, while Jacob Prai as the Head of Senate. OPM reached its peak in organization and management (in modern terms) as it as structurally well organised. During this time, Senegal Government recognised the presence of OPM and allowed OPM to open its Embassy in Dakhar, with Mr. Tanggahma as the Ambassador.
Due to the rivalry, Roemkorem left his base and went to the Netherlands. During this time, Prai took over the leadership. John Otto Ondawame (a that time he left his law school in Jayapura because of being followed and threatened to be killed by the Indonesian ABRI day and night) became the right-hand man of Jacob Prai. It was Prai's initiative to establish OPM Regional Commanders. He appointed and ordered nine Regional Commanders. Most of them were members of his own troops at the PEMKA headquarter, Skotiau, Vanimo-West Papua border.
Of those regional Commanders, Mathias Wenda was the commander for region II (Jayapura - Wamena), Kelly Kwalik
Kelly Kwalik
Kelly Kwalik was a senior separatist leader and military commander with the Free Papua Movement , a separatist organization based in Indonesia's West Papua region....
for Nemangkawi (Fakfak regency), Tadeus Yogi (For Paniai Regency), Bernardus Mawen for Maroke region and others. These commanders have been active ever since. Kelly Kwalik was shot and killed on 16 December 2009.
In 2009, an OPM command group led by General Goliath Tabuni (Puncak Jaya Regency) was featured on an undercover BBC report about the West Papuan independence movement.