Jouwe, the creator of the banned "Morning Star" independence flag of the remote eastern region, is scheduled to renounce the OPM's aims in a ceremony with Bakrie.

"He will symbolically surrender his 'Morning Star' pin. He will acknowledge the existence of the Republic of Indonesia and the end of his struggle," Mallarangeng said.

Jouwe is set to travel to Papua after the ceremony.

"We hope that Nicholas will hold peace talks with the insurgent Papuans who want a referendum. But we're not going to push him as he's already 85 years old," Mallarangeng said.

"Although OPM has no structural organisation, he still has a huge moral influence," he said.

Papua sits on the western end of New Guinea island, where armed rebels have waged a low-level insurgency since its incorporation into Indonesia in the 1960s, in a vote by select tribal elders widely seen as a sham. (*)