Jayapura, Jubi TV – The naming of Papua Governor Lukas Enembe as a graft suspect has stirred up social media and mass media. After being named a gratification suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Lukas Enembe has not given a statement to the press. Enembe is now recovering at his home due to several health problems.
On Friday afternoon, September 23, 2022, Jubi had the opportunity to chat with the Governor of Papua regarding the allegation against him on graft, the blocking of his bank accounts, allegations of making hundreds of billions of deposits to casinos in Singapore and his illness.
“My feet are swollen and I often lose my voice,” said Lukas Enembe, when met at his private home in Koya, Jayapura City, while showing his swollen feet. When I first saw him that day, Enembe was slowly walking from his room to the dining room. He was about to have lunch.
Lukas Enembe has suffered from a number of diseases in the last six months, namely stroke, diabetes, hypertension, and heart and kidney complications.
The waiter put at the dining table boiled chicory, boiled yellow pumpkin, bananas, boiled sweet potatoes and smoked fish for the governor. There was also a bowl of papeda (congee made from sago starch) and clear fish soup. There were three glasses of water and one glass of water that Enembe said contained kidney medication.
“I have to drink three glasses of water every meal plus 2 liters of water every day,” Enembe said. He did seem to have difficulties talking. Even his voice was inaudible several times so he had to repeat his words.
While starting to eat his lunch, Enembe told us about the case he was facing. He said he was not surprised by his naming as a suspect. This is not the first time he has faced attempts to criminalize him for political motives.
“The motive is political. They want to remove me from the governorship and bring down the Democrats in Papua. They think that as long as I am still governor, they will find it difficult to defeat the Democratic Party in Papua. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) wants to get rid of the Democratic Party in Papua,” said Enembe.
Enembe is currently serving as Chairman of the Papua Governing Board of the Democratic Party for 2022-2027.
According to him, PDIP’s desire to get rid of him was carried out by retired police generals. Enembe mentioned the names TK, BG and PW as the people behind his criminalization.
“In 2017, they [TK and BG] asked me to accept PW as my partner to run for governor of Papua. I refused because I had decided to run with the late Clemen Tinal,” Enembe explained.
Enembe stopped telling stories for a while. He shifted his plate, picked up the papeda bowl and pour the fish soup into the bowl before continuing his story.
Enembe said a similar thing happened in 2021. This time, TK came with a Minister to propose PW’s name as a replacement for the late Clemen Tinal. At that time, Enembe said he responded by saying that the decision regarding Tinal’s successor as deputy governor had been trusted to the coalition of parties supporting Enembe and Tinal when they ran as pairs.
“What I am facing now is criminalization. There have been attempts to criminalize me by the same people,” Enembe said.
Enembe ensured that he would not evade the KPK examination. If his health fully recovers, he will come to fulfill the KPK’s summons. He also denied that there was a mass mobilization to protect him. The protest and mass guard at his private home on September 20 was a form of moral support from the Papuan people.
“If my health recovers, I will fulfill the summons from KPK,” said Enembe.
Unlike the past few days, when I visited, Lukas Enembe’s house looked quiet. Only a few people were left guarding the gate. Lukas Enembe lives with a waiter, an aide and two close relatives. The governor’s wife and son live in the state building.
“I myself had difficulty asking the mass to go home. They don’t allow me to leave the house. Because if I left the house and something happened to me, they would kill each other. So I had to be careful asking them to go home,” Enembe talked about the thousands of people who came and gathered at his house a few days ago.
Enembe claimed the one billion money sent to his BCA account was his own money sent by someone working at his house. Meanwhile, the hundreds of billions of money mentioned by Mahfud MD as funds put by Enembe in casinos in Singapore was nonsense to him.
“First of all, I don’t have that much money. Then how do you bring that much money in cash out of the country? This makes no sense,” said Enembe.
However, Enembe did not deny that he had gone to casinos abroad. For him, it was a kind of entertainment that other officials also did. However, he has stopped this activity since he fell ill.
Enembe further said that his bank accounts, as well as the bank accounts of his wife and his child, had been blocked four months ago.
“I will not seek medical treatment abroad despite the permission letter from the Minister of Home Affairs. I will stay in Indonesia to face my criminalization,” Enembe said firmly.
Enembe thought it was strange that some people made efforts to bring him down since his office will end in one year.
“There is no need, really. In one year my term as governor will end,” Enembe said.
Him being the chairman of the Papua Governing Board of the Democratic Party was not the first time. He had been there before. Years of being a politician have made Enembe very familiar with power struggles between political parties and other political intrigues.
As a regional head for almost twenty years, this man from Mamit, Tolikara Regency, has been experienced in taking care of the long conflict over the Land of Papua to keep Papua in the Republic of Indonesia.
“Taking care of Papua is not easy. One mistake is too many and can be dangerous,” said Enembe closing the conversation with Jubi. (*)
