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ollowing the two-week-long unrest in Papua and West Papua, the government is scrambling to cool down tensions in the country's easternmost provinces, including by deploying thousands of additional security personnel — a move questioned by many.

National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said on Sunday the total number of joint security personnel that had been deployed to the restive provinces had reached around 6,000, tribunnews.com reported.

National Police spokesperson Brig. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo confirmed that as of Saturday, around 2,660 Mobile Brigade (Brimob) personnel from parts of the country, including North Sumatra and Riau Islands, had been deployed to Papua and West Papua since riots erupted in Manokwari, West Papua, on Aug. 19.

Cendrawasih Military Command spokesman Lt. Col. Eko Daryanto said that around 400 Marines were deployed to Papua on Saturday, while Thursday and Friday saw the deployment of at least 200 personnel of the Infantry Battalion (Yonif) 725/Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) and 100 Marines.

Indonesian Military (TNI) spokesperson Maj. Gen. Sisriadi said that at the command of the government following the Aug. 19 riots, an additional 1,300 personnel from the Army, Navy and Air Force had been deployed to the two provinces in stages.

"It takes time to deploy them all," he told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto said on Friday following a dialogue with Papuan figures in Jakarta, that the government had deployed more security personnel to maintain order amid the ongoing protests, insisting however that the forces would not resort to repressive measures.

"[President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo] has reminded [security personnel] not to carry out repressive actions, [but rather] persuasive, conciliatory and educational [measures]; protect the people and important objects, [such as] public and state facilities," Wiranto told reporters after a Cabinet meeting with the President held later on Friday in Jakarta.

The deployment of security forces comes amid a government-imposed internet blackout that has been in place in the provinces since Aug. 21, making it difficult for journalists to confirm reports on the rallies, especially regarding casualties.

A case in point was the difference in reports by authorities and eyewitnesses on the casualties caused by a clash between protesters and security forces at a rally in Deiyai regency, Papua, on Wednesday.

Two eyewitnesses said six protesters had died and at least three others were injured by shots fired by security forces as violence broke out, a claim denied by the Papua Police, which said that only two civilians and one soldier had died.

To make matters worse, text message and call services were disrupted in parts of Jayapura, the capital of Papua, after a fiber-optic cable of state-owned telecommunications company Telkom Indonesia was cut on Thursday by people the government alleged to be rioters.

Communications and Information Ministry spokesperson Ferdinandus Setu said on Friday that text message and call services were disrupted in a third of areas in Jayapura and that Telkom was currently repairing the damage.

The deployment of additional security forces to Papua and West Papua would have been unnecessary if the government had not failed to take preventive measures when it came to affairs concerning the regions, said Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) Papua researcher Cahyo Pamungkas.

"I think the problem is the lack of a [soft] approach toward groups who have not been satisfied with the government's policies," he said.

Sending more personnel, he said, was contradictory to the government's aim to ease the heightened tensions there, as relying solely on a security approach could trigger further conflicts if repressive measures were taken by the forces.

"The government has to take persuasive measures by carrying out dialogue with, for now, the people involved in the mass protests as well as those who have the credibility and followers and hence would be heard by the people there, such as the KNPB [West Papuan National Committee], Papuan Students Alliance, community and church leaders," Cahyo said.

Another LIPI researcher, Adriana Elisabeth, said the deployment of security forces had raised concerns given the traumatic experiences suffered by Papuans concerning military operations in the past.

She argued, however, that in the context of riots, the presence of security personnel was still necessary to ensure the safety of the people and public facilities and prevent clashes, especially as regional leaders were absent. Papua Governor Lukas Enembe, for example, has left the province to meet with Papuan students in Surabaya, East Java.

Such a measure, however, would not necessarily ease the tensions unless inclusive dialogue was held not only with representatives, but also with the people, to address the root problems.

"The riots could symbolize their grievances. They allegedly damaged kiosks of nonindigenous Papuans as a symbol of social and economic jealousy; the Telkom building because the internet was cut off; the MRP [Papua People's Assembly] building because the special autonomy did not bring prosperity. These are the symbols that the government should pay attention to," Adriana said.

The heavy-handed approach in Papua, she said, must be reorganized not only for the current conflict, but also past conflicts.

"The internet ban should also be lifted. If the reason is for security measures, the church and community leaders are having a hard time trying to spread moral messages to ease the tensions. I'm afraid that once the ban is lifted, their restrained emotions will explode, hence it will be harder to control," she said.

Aside from imposing an internet blackout to “accelerate the process of restoring security and order in Papua and the surrounding areas”, the Communications and Information Ministry has, as of Friday, blocked around 300,000 URLs that it deemed to be spreading hoaxes. YouTube has also blocked a satirical video about West Papua, which portrays the Indonesian government as a colonizer, from being viewed in the country following a "legal complaint from the government".

Wiranto said after the Cabinet meeting that the government would carry out dialogue when tensions in the provinces had died down.

"In carrying out dialogue, one of the requirements is that we won't talk about a referendum nor independence. The Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia is final," he said.

Apriadi Gunawan in Medan and Fadli in Batam contributed to the story