T

he National Police have deployed more personnel to Papua in the wake of a local officer’s murder, allegedly orchestrated by separatists in the region.

Adj. Comr. Dominggus Oktavianus Awes, the Mulia Police chief, was shot by unknown assailants at Mulia Airport in Puncak Jaya regency at 11:30 a.m. local time on Monday.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam was quick to respond to the incident by alleging that the perpetrators were members of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) separatist group.

Anton said that the shooting had prompted the sending of police reinforcements to Papua, while local police commands have been ordered to step up operations in an effort to secure the province.

“We have also asked the TNI [Indonesian Military] to pursue a separatist group suspected of being behind the fatal shooting,” he added.

The National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM), however, called the reinforcement plans unnecessary.

Putting more troops on the ground and beefing up security measures could backfire and lead to more violence and more problems, Komnas HAM member Ridha Saleh said on Monday.

“I think the police should not be too reactive. It could instead trigger more hostile tensions, which might result in more victims,” Ridha said.

“The police and the TNI should maintain a softly-softly approach that uses dialogue. Such an incident in Mulia is not rare and, therefore, security forces must be more careful in dealing with the issue,” he added.

Much of the recent spate of violence in Papua has involved police officers and thus, Ridha said, more troops could instead prompt greater hostility and be seen as a threat by certain groups.

Ridha also called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to come to Papua and establish what he has promised, namely a “heart-to-heart” way to address Papua’s issues.

“The President should come himself, but not in the form of a state visit which would be too formal, to hold constructive communication with all civil society groups in Papua,” he said.

The police chief’s killing was the fourth deadly incident in the province during the past two weeks which, according to Anton, have resulted in the deaths of eight people.

Last week, three dead bodies were found in the vicinity of where the third Papuan People’s Congress was held in Abepura, shortly after security forces and the police had forcefully dispersed the event.

Two days later, unidentified gunmen shot dead three people in Timika.

Puncak Jaya regent Lukas Enembe said the perpetrators were likely members of separatist groups, which continued to contribute to the frequent social disorder in the regency.

He also said that the police chief’s shooting likely constituted a revenge attack after several people, allegedly also separatists, were found dead following the third Papuan congress, which ended in violence.

Unlike many previous incidents, the shooting of Dominggus was observed by many eyewitnesses.

Dozens of people were flocking to Mulia Airport when the incident took place, Insp. Gen. Anton said.

According to him, Dominggus was going about his daily routine in monitoring the airport’s activities.

Suddenly, when he was standing in front of a light aircraft belonging to the Mission Aviation Fellowship, two men lunged at him and pinned him down.