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The risks of staging the PON
For too long the government has maintained its security approach to deal with Papua problems, which has only generated a vicious cycle of violence and rampant human rights violations.
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An aerial view of the National Games (PON) 2021 venues in Papua. Pictured is the soccer venue, diving venue and track and field venue. The Public Works and Housing Ministry said on July 24 2021, that five venues had received international certification and were handed over to the local government. (PUPR handout/-)
F
or the government, the National Games (PON) in Papua next month are a show that must go on. But with security threats looming and the pandemic still raging, holding the sporting event for the first time ever in the country’s easternmost territory will only fulfill the political ambitions of the national elite, rather than the wishes of local people.
The fatal attack on a military post in Maybrat regency in neighboring West Papua province on Thursday has extended the long list of violent incidents that have plagued Papua for decades. It is feared that the deaths of four Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers at the hands of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) – the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) – that has claimed responsibility for the attack, will be used to justify the extension of security operations in the natural resources-rich territory.
We have often seen this pattern before. Any time the rebels, who the security authorities refer to as an armed criminal group (KKB), launch attacks the government sends in more troops as reinforcements. While there is no data on the real number of military and police personnel assigned to Papua and West Papua, the National Police and the TNI have since last year been conducting a joint operation codenamed Nemangkawi specifically to hunt down members of the TPNPB, which has also been classified as a terrorist group.
The military and police personnel taking part in the operation, quite apart from the specific units conducting covert missions, do not include personnel from the provincial police or regional military command in the two provinces. For too long the government has maintained its security approach in dealing with Papua problems, which has only generated a vicious cycle of violence and rampant human rights violations. Prior to the Maybrat attack, at least 11 such incidents had occurred in Papua and West Papua this year alone.
West Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Tornagogo Sihombing said two people thought to be responsible for the Maybrat incident had been arrested and a manhunt was under way for other alleged perpetrators. In previous cases, efforts to search for rebels have caused fear among local residents.
Due to security concerns in the wake of the Maybrat attack, it will come as no surprise if more police and military troops are deployed to guard the venues that will host competitions during the PON. There is also the possibility that security operations will intensify to preempt threats to the sporting event ahead of its opening on Oct. 2.
The two-week games will be held in the Papua capital of Jayapura and in the regencies of Jayapura Mimika and Merauke. No fewer than 6,500 athletes from across the country are expected to turn up for the tournament, which was postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Papua has not improved much today compared with last year in its COVID-19 handling, but the government has turned a blind eye to this fact. Indeed, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has instructed the acceleration of mass vaccinations in the four regions that will host the PON, but reflecting on Tokyo’s hosting of the Olympic Games last month, the risk of a COVID-19 surge there remains high.
