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Tito gives new hope to Papua
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Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian: (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
The new chief of the Papua Police, Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian, vowed to look into unresolved human rights abuse cases in the province to open up a new era for the country’s resource-rich eastern most
province.
“The police will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of unresolved human rights cases, including a string of mysterious killings in the last three years, which have not been completely investigated,” he said in a press conference after seeing off his predecessor, Insp. Gen. Bigman Lumban Tobing on Tuesday.
Bigman will take on his new job as an analyst in the education and training department at the National Police headquarters in Jakarta.
Tito, former commander of the National Police’s antiterror squad Detachment 88, declined to mention in detail what cases would be evaluated but local activists pointed to the mysterious deaths of Papuan people who had been accused of secessionism and terrorism.
He said that he would endeavor to orchestrate dialogues with all sides to maintain security and order, political stability and the Indonesian unitary state.
“We have become accustomed to hearing numerous ideas and concepts to which dialogues will be prioritized, but those violating the law in their attempt to implement the ideas and concepts will be facing the police and they will certainly be brought to justice,” he said.
Tito stressed that Papua has its own specialties as stipulated in Law No. 21/2001 but despite the special status, it was required to maintain its integration into the republic and that all Papuans have their obligation to nurture the unitary state, the 1945 Constitution and pluralism.
Separately, human rights activists seemed pessimistic about the news that the police would continue to handle the Papua issue from the “law enforcement point” of view.
“What the police are handling is lawful cases and crimes and they have never tried to delve into the core problems. The root problems in the province are political and human rights. Papuan people have a right to self-determination and the rights to live humanely on their own land. Many influential Papuan leaders have been criminalized and accused of separatism that has later been used as a reason to kill them,” he said.
The activist said he was skeptical about Tito’s commitment to look into unresolved human right cases because when he led Detachment 88 they killed a number of influential Papuan leaders under the government’s mission to launch systematic killings of Papuan leaders.
He cited the killings of Kelly Kwalik in Timika on Dec. 16, 2009, Makro Musa Tabuni on June 14, 2012 and David Beanal in Mimika on Sept. 23. 2012.
According to the activist, security authorities had launched terror and intimidation tactics in their fight to face the increasing separatism among Papuan people, mainly of whom are students and activists.
He called on the international world to stop the supply of armaments and training, for the Indonesian Military and the National Police, because the guns had been used to shoot and kill the people.
He said that if the government wanted to maintain the province’s integration with Indonesia, it should hold peaceful dialogues with the Papuan people and settle all unresolved human rights cases in the past.
