Papua border and international relations head Suzana Wanggai said on Thursday that 14 uniformed Papua New Guinea soldiers had arrived in Yakyu village in Merauke regency, Papua and ordered residents to lower the Indonesian flag.

'€œTheir reason was that the village was part of Papua New Guinea territory. This is the report that I received from the head of neighborhood unit,'€ she told tempo.co.

Suzana insisted that Yakyu village was clearly in Indonesian territory because it was located in Merauke regency. The residents are mainly from the Mayna clan of the Kanum tribe, who moved to the area in the 1990s from Weyam village in Papua New Guinea. The village has been home to 19 family heads and 74 people since Jun. 22, 2011.

'€œThey have held national identity cards from Merauke regency since last month,'€ she said.

The incident was confirmed by Papua'€™s Cendrawasih Miltary Command (Kodam) chief Syafei Kusno, who deployed 10 soldiers to the village to prevent residents from lowering the national flag.

He said that Papua New Guinea had argued that the village was a neutral area that should hoist Indonesian and Papua New Guinean flags together.

Agreeing with Susi, Syafei said that Yakyu village actually belonged to Indonesia, however, the fact that some of its residents came from Papua New Guinea had led to a different perception by the neighboring country.

To resolve the conflict, Suzana suggested the two countries meet up in a forum to discuss the issue through a diplomatic framework.

'€œTogether, the two countries will carry out investigations to sort out this problem,'€ she said.

She added that efforts to resolve the conflict were still conducive, unlike the case with border conflicts with Malaysia. (ika)

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