Lukas reportedly crossed into Papua New Guinea on an ojek (motorcycle taxi) using routes mostly frequented by border tribes and was only confronted after authorities in Vanimo were tipped off about his presence. He was reportedly seeking a traditional cure.

Home Minister Tito Karnavian regretted the incident and reprimanded Lukas immediately, saying the governor had not asked the ministry for permission to go abroad.

“I have told him, whatever his excuse, it was wrong and violated the rule not to go abroad without a permit, especially during a pandemic,” Tito said in Jayapura on Monday, as quoted by kompas.com.

Lukas crossed the Papua-Papua New Guinea border with two of his relatives on March 31. They stayed at Medallion Hotel in Vanimo, the Papua New Guinea capital, for two days. The Papua New Guinea authorities decided to send Lukas back to Papua after declaring him and his relatives illegal crossers.

Tito said he knew Lukas had gone to Jakarta frequently to treat his undisclosed illness. It was reported in April 2020 that Lukas chartered a plane to visit Gatot Subroto Army Hospital (RSPAD) in Central Jakarta for his medical checkup, but could not finish the treatment due to a tight schedule. At the time, it was rumored that he had contracted COVID-19, but it was denied after his tests came back negative. It was not detailed whether he went to Jakarta to treat the same illness as the one treated in Papua New Guinea.

Read also: Papua administration denies governor in Jakarta for coronavirus treatment

“I knew he went to Jakarta several times to be treated at a hospital there, but then his physical condition was not very good. The last time I met him was last month,” Tito said.

However, Tito said, any governors should always consult the higher authorities -- in this case, the central government officials -- whenever they want to make a journey abroad.

“The governor [Lukas] never asked the Home Ministry [which oversees regional administrations] for a permit. Not once,” he said. “If it is very urgent, please communicate with me as an authority that will give [verbal] consent, an official [permit] letter can come afterward.”

Tito met Lukas personally, after the former arrived in Jayapura, to deliver his warning. Immediately afterward, Lukas appealed to the public not to be provoked by this incident.

“In relation to my meeting [with the Home Minister], I have told him that I got a traditional treatment [for my] legs. We have talked,” he said in Jayapura on Monday.

Lukas, a politician from the Democratic Party, is in his second term as Papua governor. He first assumed office in 2013 with his deputy governor Klamen Tinal, also now in his second term. Previously, Lukas was in office as Puncak Jaya regent from 2007 to 2012.

Read also: Lukas Enembe, Klemen Tinal committed to maintaining the state

Lukas declared that he was a nationalist when he took the governor post in 2018, promising in front of thousands of his supporters that the pair would maintain the solidarity of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI). They also promised to move forward Papua under the state.

“Both of us are the guardians of the NKRI in Papua,” he said during a campaign event in Sentani, Jayapura in March 2018. “Papua remains safe to this day. Infrastructure development supported by [President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo] continues to run, and it has been proven that in the last five years, we as Papua governor and deputy governor have managed to keep the province secure.”

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