TNI Commander Asks OPM to Surrender
Tuesday, 12 December, 2006 | 17:21 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Marshall Djoko Suyanto acknowledged that the Free Papua Movement (OPM) is still struggling. “That’s the reason why TNI is still there,” he said after meeting with Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono at the Defense Department yesterday (11/12).

“The armed fight, according to Djoko, is carried out by OPM members from the hard-line faction.

Last Friday (8/12), two TNI members died during weapons contact with OPM members in Puncak Jaya Regency. The two victims are Chief Sergeant Tobias, buried in Nabire, Papua on Sunday, and First Sergeant Joko Susanto, buried in Lampung.

Djoko acknowledged that the human rights issue is still a tool to criticize soldiers by the party that has been advocating the Papua issue so far. “It is used by people who resent TNI there,” he said.

However, according to Djoko, the government’s policy over Papua is still the criterion for TNI to be persuasive to the Papuans. “We don’t make the human rights issue as the criterion,” he said.

Raden Rachmadi and Nurochman