Your turn:  Insp. Gen. Yotje Mende (left), Brig. Gen. Paulus Waterpaw (center) and Brig. Gen. Royke Lumowa chat before the start of a ceremony on Friday to inaugurate Paulus as the new Papua Police chief to succeed Yotje. Royke meanwhile took the place left vacant by Paulus. (Antara)

National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti has ordered new Papua Police chief Brig. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw to expedite a probe into a recent clash in Tolikara and bring those responsible to court.

During Paulus'€™ inauguration on Friday, Badrodin said the Tolikara case should be solved without causing further conflict.

'€œI hope that the case will be solved and the law enforced. However, [the investigation] should be accompanied by communication. We must make sure that there is no conflict,'€ he said at the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta.

Badrodin also ordered Paulus to work with local religious leaders in the area in order to help build harmonious relationships between subscribers of different faiths.

Paulus, the first ever West Papua Police chief, replaced Insp. Gen. Yotje Mende just two weeks after a fatal clash between Christian and Muslim groups in Tolikara left one person dead and a mosque razed.

However, the police denied that Yotje'€™s replacement had anything to do with the incident, and was related to the fact that Yotje was due to retire.

Prior to the clash, tensions were triggered by a letter from the Tolikara chapter of the Evangelical Church of Indonesia (GIDI), demanding that local Muslims not carry out Idul Fitri prayers on July 17.

The letter was said to have been revoked, but it was taken as an order by a Christian group that was running a conference near where the Idul Fitri prayers took place.

Two men from the the Tolikara chapter of GIDI have been named suspects by the Papua Police and may face a maximum five-year prison sentence for provocation and assault.

Meanwhile, Paulus said that he would implement Badrodin'€™s instructions immediately.

'€œFirst, I will visit Tolikara and meet with a number of key stakeholders from the government and religious and local indigenous communities, so that we can agree on how to handle the case, whether to bring about reconciliation or enforce the law,'€ he said.

Separately, Yotje said that the Papua Police were in the process of questioning more than 30 officers from the Papua Police, examining their firearms to uncover the reasons behind the shootings during the incident, which led to the death of a teenager.

Also on Friday, the Tolikara Fact-Finding Team (TPF Tolikara), a group of national Muslim figures formed after the attack, announced that the incident could be categorized as a severe human rights violation.

'€œThe Tolikara incident was not spontaneous; it was systematically planned,'€ TPF chief Fadlan Garamatan told reporters at a press conference in Jakarta on Friday.

Fadlan added that the incident was clearly designed to disrupt the religious activities of Muslim communities in Tolikara.

'€œWorshippers were surrounded by a mob that assembled from three directions. There was a command to attack the worshippers,'€ he said, urging the police force to name GIDI members Nayus Wenda and Marthen Jingga suspects for signing the letter. (ind)

Popular

To my horror, it’s just a movie!

RI, Australia strengthen partnership on taxing crypto assets

Pentagon chief congratulates Prabowo on being elected President