the story of repentance of OPM founder to return to Mother Earth

the story of repentance of OPM founder to return to Mother Earth

                Some time ago Mrs. Indra Sugandi, the writer's friend and senior, lent me an interesting book written by Nicolaas Jouwe titled: Kembali ke Indonesia; Langkah, Pemikiran, dan Keinginan (Return to Indonesia: Steps, Thoughts and Desires. This book tells about a 89 -year-old man, who once was one of the founders of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) and has returned to the bosom of Mother Earth. Through the Jouwe's narratives in this book , a series of facts could be revealed that the existence of an international conspiracy behind the idea of ​​internationalizing Papua as a first step towards Papua Independence, separated from the Republic of Indonesia.

This book starts with an interesting statement made by Jouwe, as a form of guilt and repentance on measures he took at that time.

"I personally judge my escape to the Netherlands is a regrettable choice. But now, I realize that Papua is part of the Republic of Indonesia," said Jouwe.

Nicholaas Jouwe was born in Jayapura on 24 November 1923. In this book which unfortunately was published with unsystematic editing techniques, Jouwe said that he began to settle in the Netherlands in 1961 when Indonesia was under the leadership of Sukarno, struggling for the return of Papua to the bosom of Mother Earth.

However Jouwe, who was still young, took side with the Dutch colonial government, and along with some of his friends, he founded the Free Papua Movement Operations called the Free Papua Movement (OPM). Because Dutch promised Jouwe to be Papua president if in the future it could be independent.

Jouwe even the one who made the Morning Star flag that was first flown on December 1, 1961. " At that time I was a member of the New Guinea Council (Nieuw Guinea Raad) in which in the meeting organized by the Dutch colonial government, I was elected democratically in all areas of Papua."

According to Jouwe that is incidentally the key actor of the OPM formation, the December 1, 1961 event is often used as the basis of Papuan leaders to claim that the state of Papua once existed but was usurped by an international conspiracy of Indonesia , the United States and the Dutch colonial state.

Of course this is a version of the OPM in twisting facts and reality. Yet through the Jouwe's testimony after returning to Indonesia in 2009, two thirds of the member states of the UN General Assembly received the results of so-called Pepera (the determination of society's opinion) in 1969. Consequently the people of Papua  became an official part of the Homeland.

And this is also the Jouwe's reason to decide to return home to Indonesia. Because in his view, that the efforts of Papua to separate itself from the Unitary State of Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) is not in line with history.

The story of Jouwe's return to the bosom of Mother Earth has its own story which is also interesting to taken into account. On March 17, 2009, accompanied by his two children, Nancy and Nico, he decided to attend the invitation of President SBY to return home to Indonesia.

In January 2010, Jouwe settled in Jayapura. Then, how is the story of Jouwe in deciding to return to Indonesia and back to the Homeland?

In 2009 a delegation under the leadership of Ms. Fabiola Ohei arrived in Den Haag with a letter from president SBY to Jouwe. In the time, Fabiola could meet with Jouwe and was accompanied by Ondofolo (Customary Chief) Frans Albert Yoku, Nicolas Simeon Meset, the  first pilot from Papua, ITB graduate, and the Reverend Father Adolf Hanasbey.

The SBY's letter essentially invited Jouwe to return home to Indonesia. Based on the letter, Jouwe met Fanie Habibie, Indonesian Ambassador to the Netherlands at the time.

This is the Jouwe's statement when he met Fanie Habibie.

So we both met quickly once we become familiar with each other, as we both had met a long time. Then we both talked about my return. We talked a lot then Pai Tua said that Pai Tua had a lot of friends from Ambon. He was appointed by the Ambonese became respectable member of Ambon. There is a letter of appreciation he has. He said and he began to ask : " Nic , if I call you with Ambon's songs, will you with with me?

Then I say to Fanie : "Father, I has grown with two cultures, Papua and Ambon, Maluku. So just tell Father." Then he said again : "Nico, I has a rhyme from Ambon : Laju-laju perahu laju, laju sampai Surabaya. Biar lupa kain dan baju, tapi jangan lupa par beta."

I then said : " Oh good . " I also wanted to reply : Angin timur gelombang barat, kapal angkasa warna merpati, Bapa di timur Beta di barat, apa rasa dalam hati."

Tua Pai replied again with a rhyme : "Naik-naik ke Batu Gajah, Rasa Haus makan kwini, Beta rasa sengaja saja, Siapa tahu jadi begini."

Mr Fanie asked : I want to know, when will you go home quickly? I replied with another poem:  Riang-riang ke Bangkahulu, rama-rama si batang padi, diam-diam sabar dahulu, lama-lama tokh akan jadi.”

Mr Fanie said again : let's go home." And I replied : " Yes, I'll go home."

After having a dinner with Fanie Habibie, I gave one last poem to Mr. Ambassador.

“Ayam putih mari kurantai, kasih makan ampas kalapa, budi Bapa Dubes sudah sampe, Beta mau balas dengan Apa?”

Mr Fanie replied again : Yes , please go home. I replied : " Yes, I go home."

That is the Jouwe's narratives. Then shortly after that, a ​​diplomatic treaty about the Nicolas Jouwe's return to Indonesia by Mr Fanie Habibie was made.

The story of Jouwe's secret meeting with John F Kennedy

The interesting aspect of this book is the Jouwe's meeting with Kennedy in 1962, in which we know Kennedy agreed with Soekarno in order that the Dutch could immediately return Papua to Indonesia.

According to Jouwe, his meeting with Kennedy later became one of the reasons why he finally decided to return to join the Homeland.

For Jouwe the impressive thing is that when Kennedy asked if Jouwe knew about the history of Papua and knew how long Papua could be into the orbit of the Dutch colony. And naively Jouwe answered that he knew nothing. Because what Jouwe knew through history that he learned in school is about the history of the Netherlands, its geography, how many rivers and mountains in the Netherlands and so on. But in regard with the Papuan history, Jouwe admitted openly to the Kennedy he did not know.

This is where the interesting aspects of the Jouwe's story when he met President Kennedy. Kennedy told Jouwe about the Dutch colonial politics. Why Papuan history itself is not notified to the people of Papua? Because the Dutch knew that Papua is rich in gold, silver and copper.

"The Dutch did not want anyone from the outside to come to Papua . Dutch wanted to prevent the outside from getting into Papua to control it," Kennedy told Jouwe.

Even Kennedy also said that the government of Netherlands propagandized that Papua was littered fully with a wide range of dangerous diseases such as malaria and others. The Netherlands even scared that those who come to Papua would die. In short , the Netherlands carried out such propaganda in order that people do not dare to visit to Papua.

Of the story, Kennedy fully supported the integration of Papua to Indonesia. The Jouwe's meeting with Kennedy is precisely in order to persuade Jouwe to agree Papua to be part of Indonesia.

It is understandable if his meeting with Kennedy is confidential, because Jouwe was in the capacity as an advisor and member of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Dutch and Indonesian negotiations. So the Jouwe's official position in the time was in the interests of the Dutch colonial government.

If we observe today, no doubt it is a historical irony. Kennedy, the U.S. president going hand-in-hand with Soekarno and the Indonesian government in the period 1960-1963,was intensively fighting for the return of Papua to Indonesia. While Jouwe that is in fact the son of Papua, supported the Dutch by agreing to internationalize Papua independence as a counter to the issue of the struggle of Indonesia to seize West Papua or Irian.

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