P

olice in Papua have arrested three people in connection with the escalating violence in the country’s easternmost troubled province.

Deputy chief of the Papua Police, Brig. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw, said the three people were now being
detained in two different locations.

“We arrested two people in Abepura on June 7 and detained one in Sentani on June 9,” he told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview on Sunday.

Paulus added that these three were perpetrators in “the recent assaults”, and that the attacks were all connected.

Papua has experienced escalating violence in the past few weeks with 15 people reported as having died.

Last week, two civilians were killed in separate incidents involving Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel and police officers.

In the second incident, Teyu Tabuni, 19, was shot dead by police officers in Jayapura on Thursday last week.

Mahfudz Siddiq, chairman of the House of Representatives Commission I overseeing defense and foreign affairs, who had just returned from the commission’s two-day working visit to Papua, said the detained suspects were “members of armed groups in possession of short-barreled weapons”.

“The Papua military commander, the Papua Police deputy chief and intelligence officers all told us [members of Commission I] that armed groups had orchestrated the attacks, as the OPM’s [Free Papua Movement] anniversary, which falls on July 1, was drawing near,” Mahfudz said.

Mahfudz said that although the anniversary fell on July 1, the organization often celebrated the event on Dec. 1.

Last December, hundreds gathered for mass prayers in Sentani, Jayapura regency to observe the 50th anniversary of what they called the freedom of Papua.

Clashes occurred in other parts of the region prior to and during the celebrations.

Mahfudz suspected that the groups had also arranged the attacks to disrupt the President’s planned visit to the province.

President Susilo Bambang Yu-dhoyono is scheduled to visit Papua on July 3, to join an event organized by the Indonesian Scouts Movement (Pramuka).

During their stay in Papua, Commission I members visited Jayapura and Abepura and held meetings with various religious communities and representatives from local community organizations.

“The situation there is complicated. Locals suspect that the police and the military are behind the incidents. The latter, on the other hand, blame separatists in the region. There are also people who demand Papua’s independence,” he told the Post on Sunday.

Separately, intelligence analyst Wawan Purwanto said that conflicts in Papua had been going on for far too long and that it was time for the government to change its policy toward Papua.

“While the concept of Papua as a region with special autonomy is good, its implementation has so far only been damaging to locals. Now, there are too many conflicting parties in Papua and each has its own interests, be they political or economic,” he said. (tas)