JakartaPost-Feb 8, 2022

Indonesian military (TNI) chief Gen. Andika Perkasa has offered a new softer approach to resolving the long-standing conflict in the country’s easternmost provinces of Papua and West Papua. But experts say integrated actions among cross-sector stakeholders are needed to solve the complex problems facing the Papuan people. Andika has promised to move away from the military approach, promising a nonmilitary strategy aimed at winning the hearts and minds of the Papuan people. But Papua military expert Khairul Fahmi from the Institute of Security and Strategic Studies (ISESS) said that while the strategy looked good on paper, it was still being carried out jointly by the two institutions that had a poor level of public trust among Papuans – the military and the police. LIPI (Indonesian Institute of Science) Papua researcher Adriana Elizabeth noted that integrated actions and a synergetic approach were needed to achieve both economic prosperity and political security. “If the government wants to use a prosperity-based approach, it can’t have security stakeholders playing a dominant role,” Adriana said. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2022/02/07/tni-tries-softer-approach-to-papua-but-doubts-remain.html.