Former OPM Commander of the Keerom Region Celebrates RI's 77th Anniversary: Without Dialogue, There is No Solution to the Papua Conflict

The former Commander of the Free Papua Organization (OPM) for the Keerom region, Lambert Pekikir was also present at the celebration of the 77th Indonesian Independence Day held by Korem 172/PWY in Workwana Village, Arso Kota District, Keerom Regency, Papua, on 16 and 17 August 2022. Name Lambert Pekikir often appeared in the media from 2008 to 2013 as the General Coordinator of the West Papua National Liberation Army-Free Papua Organization (TPNPB-OPM) and at the same time leading the Victoria headquarters, Papua New Guinea.

At that time, Lambert Pekikir's operational area was in Keerom Regency and Papua New Guinea, which were directly adjacent to each other. However, after returning to the homeland of the Republic of Indonesia, Lambert Pekikir is currently no longer demanding Papuan independence.

He is now voicing peace in Papua. “During my struggle against the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, personally, my view is that during the process of this struggle there have been many casualties, both on the civilian side, on the TNI-Polri apparatus and on the OPM itself. And, in my opinion, this is not a genuine struggle if we sacrifice a lot of audiences on both sides,” said Lambert Pekikir in Keerom, Tuesday (16/8/2022).

Want Peace

Lambert said his 20-year struggle to take up arms never paid off and only resulted in the loss of life. Until finally, he began to think about having a dialogue with the Indonesian government to resolve the problems in Papua. His views turned out to be in conflict with many of his comrades who still had the goal of fighting against the TNI and Polri.

"In my view of the struggle, without dialogue there will never be a solution to the complete resolution of the Papuan conflict, so personally I am at odds with all my fellow fighters," said Lambert. Then in 2013, he specifically opened communication with the security forces so that he could directly voice his aspirations in front of the president. A year later, Lambert accompanied by JO Sembiring who is currently the Commander of Korem 172/PWY with the rank of Brigadier General, met with the then President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

“In 2014 I returned to Keerom (from Victoria headquarters) and prepared to meet with high-ranking officials of the Republic of Indonesia in Jakarta, and at that time I met General JO Sembiring's son and he facilitated and escorted me and my team to go to Jakarta. . Then, in December 2014, the Victoria Headquarters OPM team, under the supervision of the security forces, including General JO Sembiring, who was present at this time, left for Jakarta," he said.

“There we talked about solutions for resolving conflicts in Papua to be mutually agreed. After that I came back and I received a guarantee by the state and the apparatus to stay in the Republic of Indonesia, to build Indonesia together,” explained Lambert. Therefore, since then, Lambert admits that he is no longer active in voicing Papuan independence and prefers peace. According to him, no matter how noble the goal, if it is carried out by sacrificing many lives, it will be wrong because it will continue to cause hatred.

He said this was not in line with his conscience which wanted peace. "My decision today is that I have been in the midst of society and I want to work together with the community to build Keerom, build Papuan people as a whole under the framework of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia and avoid all things that are against this country and harm the people," said Lambert.

Danrem 172/PWY Brigadier General JO Sembiring, who is familiarly called Jo, emphasized that what Lambert Pekikir had chosen would be supported by the TNI so that there would be no more armed violence in Papua. He also invited all parties to continue to maintain peace and focus on infrastructure development and human resource development. “People in this village also want peace, want to progress and want to be even more successful in the future. This activity is also a venue for my friendship and nostalgia with Mr. Lambert Pekikir, whom we haven't seen for a long time. And now I have returned to Papua with the position of Danrem so I have to come,” said Jo.

SOURCE: https://time.online/2022/08/17/9851/