The Jakarta Post
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsPapua killings renews calls for peace talks, end armed conflict
Human Rights Minister Natalius Pigai acknowledged that responding to individual cases would not be enough to break the cycle of violence in Papua. Jakarta, including the executive, legislative and judicial branches, as well as political parties, must respond collectively.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Set as preferred source
Officers of the Habema Joint Operations Command of the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) retrieve the body of a victim killed by Papuan separatists, on Wednesday near Lake Habema in Highland Papua. (Antara/Handout/The Habema Operations Command (Koops Habema))
T
he recent killings of civilians in Papua have raised fresh concerns over the state’s ability to protect people caught between separatists and security forces in the country’s easternmost region, prompting calls for renewed peace efforts.
Aris Sanda, a 41-year-old driver from Toraja, South Sulawesi, was found dead inside a burned car in Jayawijaya, Papua Highlands on Tuesday. The Cartenz Peace Operations Task Force found a rifle cartridge at the scene.
The task force, which comprises Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police personnel, is investigating whether the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) carried out the shooting, spokesperson Sr. Comr. Yusuf Sutejo said in a statement on Thursday.
The TPNPB, the armed wing of the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM), claimed responsibility for the killing, accusing Aris of being a military intelligence agent who had entered its operational area despite previous warning. Yusuf denied the allegation.
The incident came a week after another shooting that killed three civil servants from the Jayawijaya Agriculture Agency in Muliama district on Sept. 9. The TPNPB also claimed responsibility for that attack, accusing the victims of being intelligence agents.
Read also: Police hunt OPM rebels after civil servants murdered in Papua Highlands
In a video statement released Thursday, TPNPB spokesperson Sebby Sambom warned that non-Papuans who come to the region without supporting Papua’s independence “aren’t welcome in our territory.”
