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Jakarta scrambles to bring order to Papua
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Tears 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)
T
he 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.
