Thirteen-year-old Isak Pesakot was shot and killed by Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers patrolling in the Keerom regency, Papua. Lt. Col. Susilo, spokesperson of the Papua Military Command, confirmed the incident. "TNI soldiers at Bewan military post in Keerom were responsible for the shooting. The incident is now under investigation," he said as quoted by Antara state news agency.
Servo Tuamis, a local tribal chief, said Isak was walking home from a visit to a relative in Skoscahu, Papua New Guinea (PNG), with his brothers when they met a patrol team of eight soldiers and dogs. The three children ran away after being chased by the dogs and two of them climbed a tree to escape while Isak stayed on the ground.
Your comments:
Indonesia respects Papua as part of Indonesia, and should not by any means treat Papuans like animals. If the soldier shot the boy, whether accidently or not, then the soldier should be punished.
Indonesia does not order its soldiers to shoot people without good reason. Please stop this ridiculous mindset and support peace once and for all.
Su
I think the reason why the international community is so quiet about Papua is because they have some kind of prejudice against the Papuans. They have seen that the East Timorese did not become successful after they gained their independence; in fact, the situation in East Timor has become steadily worse.
Therefore, many countries think it is not important for them to focus on Papua, especially in the current global political climate, where attentions are directed toward countries like Iran, North Korea and Pakistan.
Helena van der Winden
Hi, Helena. I do not agree with you. It is all about getting oil, copper, gas and gold.
Vigo
Ananda (The Jakarta Post, June 29, p. 20), I think your comment is misplaced nationalism. Human rights are universal values, not only "Western-oriented thinking". Indonesia is part of the United Nations and has signed a number of international treaties and conventions where it affirms its commitment to protecting human rights.
You compare the border in West Papua with the military operations in Iraq or Afghanistan. Sure, murders against civilians by foreign military forces have also occurred there.
Those crimes have been investigated and harsh sentences have been imposed on those convicted. But there is a situation of real civil war in those two countries at the moment. You can hardly qualify the situation in West Papua as civil war.
If you really want to point out the hypocrisy of some powerful Western countries, then you could start questioning their propensity to close their eyes to the countless violations of human rights that have been occurring all over Indonesia for so many years, and still occur in a number of places, among which is West Papua.
I can see that, among those readers of the Post who are horrified by the crimes committed by the TNI in West Papua and elsewhere, there are a number of Indonesians.
And others with Western names (I am one of them) do not necessarily agree with the West's aggressive military operations conducted in Iraq or Afghanistan or elsewhere.
Borsa
