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Jakarta scrambles to bring order to Papua

Tears and gas: A police officer escorts a crying woman at the location of an ongoing street rally in Mimika, Papua, on Wednesday

Benny Mawel and Karina M. Tehusijarana (The Jakarta Post)
Jayapura/Jakarta
Thu, August 22, 2019

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Jakarta scrambles to bring order to Papua

T

ears and gas: A police officer escorts a crying woman at the location of an ongoing street rally in Mimika, Papua, on Wednesday. Over the last three days, Papuans, mostly students, have held demonstrations in several cities to protest physical and racial abuse against Papuan students in Surabaya, East Java, by security personnel on Saturday.(Antara/Sevianto Pakiding)

The Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police have deployed additional forces to Papua and West Papua in an attempt to restore order amid the ongoing protests and rioting in the region.

National Police spokesperson Brig. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo said that the police had already deployed 10 Mobile Brigade (Brimob) company-level units totaling 960 personnel to Manokwari, Sorong and Fakfak as of Wednesday afternoon, with an additional five units soon to be deployed to Sorong, Timika and Fakfak.

“The presence of police, TNI and regional administration personnel is to support the efforts to create a calm situation in Papua and so that residents are not provoked by hoaxes spread on social media,” he said.

Meanwhile, TNI spokesperson Maj. Gen. Sisriadi said that three company-level units consisting of a total of 325 soldiers had been deployed from the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) to West Papua on Tuesday.

“Yesterday, two units landed in Manokwari and one in Sorong,” Sisriadi said on Wednesday. “At the moment there is no plan to deploy more units because, based on our observations, the situation has calmed down and the military command has used a cultural approach.”

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto said that he would visit Papua on Wednesday night in an effort to further calm the waters.

“I will go to Papua to rekindle a sense of empathy and peace and to invite [Papuans] to unite as a nation, because we are the only ones who lose when we fight [among each other],” he told reporters on Wednesday evening.

While police and the military claimed that the situation in West Papua was “generally calm”, protests continued in several cities and regencies in the province, with violence breaking out in Fakfak regency.

On Wednesday morning, protesters set fire to kiosks and stalls in the Fakfak traditional market, laying waste to public facilities along the road into the market.

The Mbaham Matta Customary Council office was also set on fire after protesters clashed with a local nationalist mass organization.

One of the Fakfak protesters, Siswanto Tigtignaweria, said that the clash occurred after protesters raised the Bintang Kejora (Morning Star) flag, a symbol of Papuan independence, in front of the council office.

Siswanto told The Jakarta Post that, after seeing the flag, members of the mass organization started to attack the protesters, which included women and children, while yelling, “The Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia] is nonnegotiable!”

“Then the police came and shot tear gas,” he said.

Protesters also clashed with police in Timika, Mimika regency, where more than 1,000 residents took to the streets in an antiracism protest.

The protesters assembled peacefully in the front yard of the Mimika Regional Legislative Council building in Timika.

However, clashes occurred in the afternoon as police tried to disperse the members of the crowd who were waiting to meet Mimika Regent Eltinus Omaleng.

“Residents were told to disperse and were shot at with tear gas, as well as bullets,” Timika rights activist Patricia Wetipo told the Post. “Protesters then went out of the yard and retaliated by throwing projectiles at police and police vehicles.”

Demonstrations also continued in the city of Sorong, where residents held a long march from the municipal council office to the mayor’s office on Wednesday morning.

Sorong resident Robert Prawar told the Post that the protesters demanded the government take legal action against the military and police personnel who racially abused Papuan students in Surabaya, East Java, on Friday.

The government suspended internet access in Papua and West Papua on Wednesday. The suspension, according to the Communications and Information Ministry, is effective until the situation in the region “returns to normal”.

Military expert Mufti Makarim said that the deployment of additional security forces could be effective depending on the approach they take.

“If the forces are there to support local troops and stand by at the base, then there should be no problem, as long as they are not immediately deployed to conduct repressive actions,” he told the Post. “But so far it’s not very clear what the reinforcements are there for.”

Mufti added that the TNI and police forces should follow President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s policy of nonrepressive action in Papua.

“Security forces should follow the government line and not make their own decisions,” he said. “The concern is that violent, repressive actions will only make the situation worse, because the current situation is also a reaction to the violence that occurred in Surabaya and Malang.”

The protests, which started on Monday, came in response to incidents in which Papuan university students living in Malang and Surabaya were subjected to physical and verbal attacks between Thursday and Saturday.

Brawijaya military commander Maj. Gen. Wisnoe Prasetja promised that he would investigate the allegations that military personnel were involved in the racist abuse.

“I will look into it and examine the evidence,” he said on Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com. (rfa)

— Ghina Ghaliya contributed to this story from Jakarta

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