Phillip Mehrtens, a pilot from Christchurch working for Indonesia’s frontier airliner Susi Air, was reportedly abducted on Feb. 7 by a group from the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the militant wing of the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM).

The group took over the aircraft Mehrtens was flying and set it alight shortly after it landed on an airstrip in Paro, a district in the remote and mountainous regency of Nduga.

The plane was scheduled to pick up construction workers building a Puskesmas (community health center) in Paro when a local rebel group led by Egianus Kogoya stormed the aircraft, Nduga acting regent Namia Gwijangge said a day after the incident.

The rebels had released the five passengers on the aircraft because they were all indigenous Papuans, TPNPB spokesperson Sebby Sambom said.

Sambom sent video footage and photos to The Jakarta Post showing a group of armed men setting fire to the plane as it was parked on the airstrip.

In the footage, Egianus is seen sitting in the airplane’s cockpit as he says the group had taken the pilot hostage as part of its struggle “to free Papua” from Indonesia.

Another video shows a man who has been identified as Mehrtens standing in a forest, surrounded by a group of men armed with rifles, spears and bows and arrows.

“They ask that the Indonesian Military go home, back to Indonesia. If not, I will remain captive or my life is threatened,” says the man in the video.

Standing next to him, Egianus says: “We have caught the pilot and will only release him when Papua is free. Otherwise, why not die together in [this place]. Every country must open their eyes and urge Indonesia to recognize a Free Papua.”

Namia said he was currently coordinating with local leaders and religious figures to secure Mehrten’s release.

“We pray that God opens the hearts of this group [...] so the pilot will be returned in good health,” he said in Mimika, as quoted on Tuesday by Kompas.com.

Read also: New Zealand pilot taken hostage in PapuaSeparately, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD said the government was making every effort to persuade the rebels to release the pilot, “because the priority is the safety of the hostage”.

“Taking civilians hostage for any reason is unacceptable,” Mahfud said in a video statement late on Tuesday. He said persuasion was the best method to ensure the safety of the hostage, but “the government does not rule out other [approaches]”.

He also reiterated that Papua was part of Indonesia.

Prior to the release of the footage, a joint TNI-National Police team was deployed to the region to locate and rescue Mehrtens, acting on a tip that he had escaped capture.

“I hope that Egianus and his group will stop any unnecessary actions,” Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Mathius Fakhiri was quoted as saying on Tuesday. “We will not back down.”

New Zealand response

Earlier this week, representatives from the New Zealand Embassy in Jakarta arrived in Timika, Mimika regency, along with Foreign Ministry officials, to speak with the TNI’s Papua and Maluku regional commander.

“The New Zealand diplomats offered to help where necessary in the search and rescue of the Susi Air pilot,” Lt. Gen. I Nyoman Cantiasa, commander of the TNI Joint Defense Regional Command III, said in a statement on Monday.

Responding to the Post’s request for details about the diplomats’ visit, New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade responded by email on Tuesday, saying that the welfare of its citizen held captive was its “top priority”.

The ministry also said it was working closely with the Indonesian authorities to ensure the safe release of the New Zealand national.

“We are also supporting the family of the New Zealander, both here in Aotearoa [New Zealand] and in Indonesia. They have asked for privacy at this incredibly challenging time,” the ministry said.

The incident is the first since 1996 to involve a foreign hostage, and violates a deal in November 2022 on a humanitarian pause that was agreed between the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), the government-founded Papuan People’s Assembly and the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, a forum for Papuan self-determination.

Conflict between security forces and indigenous Papuans have simmered for decades in the country’s easternmost region, which remains among the most impoverished despite its rich mineral deposits.

Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a United Nations-sponsored ballot that critics insist was a sham.

While the government has been accused of taking a tough security approach that amounted to gross human rights violations, it has said it is shifting its stance in favor of development and welfare. (tjs/ipa)