Nicolaas Jouwe: Netherlands Created OPM To Oppose Indonesia

Nicolaas Jouwe

A Papuan community leader, Nicolaas Jouwe, said the Netherlands officers created the Free Papua Movement (OPM) in 1965, to oppose Indonesia and disturb the security of eastern Indonesias territory.

“I am a leader of the National Liberation Council of West Papua. I am not OPMs member. In fact, OPM was created by Netherlands officers in 1965 to coincide with the crackdown on the Indonesian Communist Party,” Jouwe said on Monday (12/5) in Jakarta.

In the lunch that was held for a journalist of Australian TV SBS, Mark Davis, Jouwe said the Netherlands officers trained the Papuan youths to become volunteers in fighting Indonesia.

“The Papuan youth who had been trained were then asked by the Netherlands to establish the OPM,” Jouwe noted.

Jouwe, born in Jayapura on November 24, 1923 and who had designed the Bintang Kejora (Morning Star) Flag, also explained conditions in Papua after more than 50 years of integration with the Unitary State of Indonesia, since the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA) handed over the governance of West Papua (used to be called Irian Jaya) to Indonesia on May 1, 1963.

Jouwe underlined that the Papuan peoples state of minds cannot be separated from the Netherlands treatment, who had isolated and banned them from attending schools since the Orange Kingdom colonized the land in 1828 until independence was proclaimed by Soekarno and Hatta on August 17, 1945.

“During the 117 years, we the people of Papua practically lived in the Stone Age,” he said.

The obsession of Jouwe with the struggle for Papuas development was captured in a book titled “Nicolaas Jouwe Back to Indonesia: Step, Thought and Desire” that will be published in 2014.

On Jouwes book, the figure who used to oppose Indonesia, said he had come back to the Unitary State of Indonesia marked by his visit to Jayapura, Papua, in 2009, to support Papuas development, after tens of years of living in the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, during his stay in Indonesia, Mark Davis will organize an investigative report in Jayapura between May 6 and May 11, 2014.

Source: ANTARA News

Nicolaas Jouwe: I am ready to work with the government to develop Papua province

ANTARA News/Monday, January 25, 2010 — The founder of the separatist Free Papua Organization (OPM), Nicolaas Jouwe, here Monday declared his commitment to supporting development in Papua under the special autonomy law enacted by the central government.

“I and my associates are ready to work with the government to develop Papua province,” Jouwe said here on Monday after a meeting with Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare Agung Laksono.

But Jouwe who is a member of the supervisory council of the Independent Group Supporting Special Autonomy for Papua within the Republic of Indonesia (IGSSARPRI) also said the government should evaluate its special autonomy policy on Papua province.

“The government`s budget for the implementation of special autonomy in Papua province is quite large. It is hard to believe that the budget funds made available are not enough to develop Papua,” Jouwe said in a written recommendation.

Jouwe who had for the past 40 years lived in the Netherlands said the government should strictly supervise the use of state budget funds allocated to Papua, and investigate those suspected of corrupting the money.

He also urged the government to widen the local people`s access to banks and medical services.

“What is also needed now is a meeting between the government and prominent Papua figures to discuss plans to develop Papua,” he said. (*)