Prabowo Urged to Appoint Special Envoy to Tackle Papua Conflict

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Papua Peace Network urges President Prabowo Subianto to appoint a special envoy to establish a communication channel with the Free Papua Movement (OPM) and all conflicting parties in Papua.

Spokesperson for the Papua Peace Network, Yan Christian Warinussy, said that the government has been reluctant to communicate with the Papua separatist movement. But the only solution to resolve the Papua conflict, he said, is through dialogue.

"President Prabowo should appoint someone to directly engage with the conflicting parties in Papua," said Yan Christian when contacted by Tempo on Saturday, May 27, 2025.

According to Yan, if President Prabowo is earnest about his commitment to resolving the Papuan conflict, he should sit with all groups—including the pro-independence movement and activists—for talks.

Yan recalled his meeting with former President Joko Widodo in 2016, where he conveyed that infrastructure development alone is inadequate to resolve the conflict in Papua. Without dialogue, no agreement will be reached.

He reminisced about a similar dialogue conducted by former President BJ Habibie with 100 Papua figures called Tim 100 (Team 100), which took place on February 26, 1999, at the State Palace in Jakarta.

Led by Tom Beanal, Yan said the team presented before the then-president of Papua's intention to separate from Indonesia. Habibie's response at that time, Yan recalled, was deemed wise. 

"Your aspiration is important, but forming a nation is no easy feat, return home and reconsider," said Habibie at that time.

After the meeting, the Papuan figureheads held the Second Papua Congress, which was attended by thousands of people and was the result of a major consultation of tribal leaders in the early 2000. This congress resulted in a number of vital political decisions, including the formation of the Papuan Presidium Council (PDP) and a call for dialogue with the Indonesian government.

Yan lamented that such dialogue is absent in the current government. Instead of engaging in dialogues, the Prabowo administration deployed the military with violent approaches, ultimately shutting down any room for talks, especially at the expense of many civilian lives in Papua.

Novali Panji Nugroho and Dani Aswara contributed to the writing of this article

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