KSP to Review Church Forum's Request for Dialogue on Papua
KEPALA Kantor Staf Presiden (KSP) Dudung Abdurachman has confirmed that his office has received a letter from a church association requesting dialogue to resolve the humanitarian conflict in Papua. Dudung said he will study the letter before presenting it to President Prabowo Subianto.
“Yesterday, there was indeed a letter from Papua requesting dialogue. It will go through me first, and then I will convey it concretely to the President,” he said after attending an event at the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform in Jakarta, Friday, 24 July 2026.
The former Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Army stated that the President is a figure who is open to dialogue with any party. “But the President is very welcoming. Whoever wants to dialogue, time will certainly be made available,” he said.
Previously, church leaders who are members of the Indonesian Christian Forum (Fukri) urged the government to open a space for dialogue to end the conflict in Papua. PGI Chairperson Jacklevyn Frits Manuputty said that church synods in Papua had sent a letter to President Prabowo requesting a meeting to discuss the resolution of the Papua conflict.
“However, until now, access has not been granted,” he said during a meeting at the Grha Oikoumene of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI), Central Jakarta, Thursday, 17 July 2026.
The call came amid a worsening security situation in Papua in recent months. On 2 July 2026, a pregnant woman was shot dead during a firefight suspected to involve TNI personnel near a local post. On the same day, Captain Nicholas F. Goselin, a pilot for PT Associated Mission Aviation (AMA), died after his aircraft was set ablaze and attacked by West Papua National Liberation Army forces in Balinggama.
According to Fukri, the spate of violence demonstrates that a security approach has failed to end the decades-long conflict. The church forum believes that dialogue remains the most realistic and dignified path to building a just and sustainable resolution.