1) 3 cops shot dead in Papua
2) US seeks expanded Indonesia military ties
3) Esterlina Sroyer: First policewoman to head Biak, Papua
----------------------
1) 3 cops shot dead in Papua
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura | Headlines | Wed, November 28 2012, 9:38 AM
Paper Edition | Page: 1
Three policemen, including Pirime sub-precinct police chief Second Insp. Rofli Takubesi, were shot dead early Tuesday by a group of unidentified assailants in Lanny Jaya regency, Papua.
The two other fatalities were identified as Brig. Jefri Rumkorem and First Brig. Daniel Makuker, while a third officer — Brig. Muhammad Gosali — managed to save himself.
After shooting the victims, the assailants burned the victims’ bodies along with the sub-precinct police station and stole three police rifles.
Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian flew to the incident site immediately after receiving word of the attack. “I’ll check it,” Karnavian said shortly before his departure to Wamena, from where he would be transported overland to Pirime.
The Jakarta Post data shows that at least 10 security officers have been shot dead so far this year by unknown assailants in Papua.
National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Rafli Amar confirmed the incident in Lanny Jaya, saying he did not yet know the motive of the attack. Boy said in Jakarta that the attackers were believed to consist of 10 people. Local police, with backup from the Indonesian Military (TNI), were still hunting down the perpetrators, he added.
Papua Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. I Gede Sumerta Jaya explained that the four police officers were on guard at the sub-precinct police station at the time of the attack. One of the three victims was found near a flagpole. “Possibly he was about to raise the red and white flag,” he said.
The rising frequency of violence in Papua, Indonesia’s easternmost province, by armed civilian groups is believed to be a reaction by local community members to the frustration of dealing with hardships in the underdeveloped but resource-rich area.
“The people are frustrated because there has been no significant progress in their humble lives. They hear about the huge development funds channeled from the central government, including those for special autonomy status, but they never feel the impacts,” said Father John Jonga, a Catholic priest at Hetuba Parish in Pegunungan Tengah.
People were also fed up with local government officials because they were rarely present amid their people, but spent most of their time in Jakarta or other big cities, said Jonga, who received the Yap Thiam Hien human rights award in 2010.
“In many talks with the local people, they say they do not know who their regent is, their district heads or their village heads,” Jonga said.
“I see regents and other high-ranking officials do not have the heart to carry out development. As soon as they are installed as officials, they forget about what they have to do for their people,” he said.
Jonga cited as examples how residents could not get adequate health services and how schools had been abandoned by their teachers. “With the situation never changing, the people become disappointed and express their emotions with violence,” he said.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- 2) US seeks expanded Indonesia military ties
- AAP
- November 28, 2012 10:26AM
A SENIOR US official says Washington should expand its military ties with Indonesia.
The top diplomat for East Asia, Kurt Campbell, says ties have grown in recent years, but not fast enough.
Campbell was speaking on Tuesday at a gathering of the US-Indonesia Society in Washington.
The US severed military ties for several years after Indonesia's crackdown in East Timor in 1999. Jakarta has since sought to professionalise and modernise its military. Key US restrictions on engagement with Indonesia's feared special forces were lifted in 2010.
Human rights groups say Indonesia's military abuse continues, particularly in the province of west Papua.
Campbell also advocated deeper ties between the two governments and praised Jakarta's leadership in regional diplomacy.
---------------------------------------------------------
3) Esterlina Sroyer: First policewoman to head Biak, Papua
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura | People | Wed, November 28 2012, 11:55 AM
At first glance, the Regency Police chief of Biak Numfor, Papua — with her straight hair and fair skin — may not appear to be Papuan.
“Have no doubt, I am Papuan. My father is from Biak and my mother is from Pangkalpinang [Bangka]. My mom’s genes may be dominant so I lack the Papuan physical features,” said Adj. Sr. Comr. Esterlina Sroyer, better known as Ester.
Even Ester, when she first joined the police, doubted her own Papuan ancestry.
“By my name, people think I am Papuan but when they see me they have doubts,” she said. The physical difference actually prompted her to approach her father.
“My father assured me I was his natural child. He told me to return home to Pangkalpinang, where my mother was buried and my aunts lived. I followed his advice and they convinced me I was really Papuan by blood,” Ester recalled.
Ester is the first of two children of Manase Sroyer, a policeman from Biak, Papua, and Caroline Lie from Pangkalpinang, Bangka.
“My parents are both dead and my younger sister lives in Pangkalpinang. She inherited the Papuan physical characteristics,’’ said Ester, who was also born in Pangkalpinang on Sept. 2, 1961.
The Sroyers lived in Pangkalpinang until Ester was 7, when her mother died.
“After my mother’s death, father took me to Biak in 1968 and my sister was left in Pangkalpinang, where she has remained up to the present,’’ she said.
In Biak, her father remarried and Ester has since welcomed four more siblings to her family from her stepmother, a native of Biak.
Ester finished economics high school in Biak and in 1980, when the National Police opened recruitment to women in Biak, Ester enrolled along with her four friends from Papua, who have all become the first generation of Papuan
female cops.
‘’Previously policewomen enrollment was handled by the National Police Headquarters and it was only in 1980, for the first time, recruitment was assigned to the Papuan Regional Police,” she noted.
Ester has now made history as the first woman to enter the rank of regency police chief (Kapolres) of Biak, Papua, a position so far only occupied by men. The policewoman, who likes biking and swimming, has built up her career in the regional police office.
Ester never expected to become a policewoman although her childhood was mostly spent with police officers. “We mingled with policemen every day and made fun of patrolling harbor cops as we were swimming near the port after school. It is an unforgettable memory,” she reminisced.
She applied for a job at the Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) alongside enrolling in the police office.
‘’I must have been destined to be a policewoman. After passing entrance tests with my four friends, we were all sent to Jakarta for training. I did not even notice if I had passed the BRI tests,’’ she pointed out.
Ester married Iwan Nazaruddin, manager of the Dafonsoro Soccer Association (Persidafon), Jayapura regency, and they have a son together Yusrizal, who is 27.
Even though her husband has been engaged in soccer activities for decades, as he was deputy manager of the Jayapura Football Association (Persipura) before his Persidafon position, Ester is not a soccer enthusiast.
“I just watch soccer matches when I’m in a good mood,” she said.
Undertaking a leadership role that is usually held by men, according to Ester, is not difficult because the functions and duties to be performed by the leader — male or female — are already clearly defined.
Named district police chief of Biak and installed by Papuan Regional Police chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian on Oct. 29 along with 22 other regency police chiefs, Ester described the event as a manifestation of trust and a blessing.
“The position amounts to the trust of our superiors and is inseparable from God’s blessing, so that the job should be well done,” she indicated.
“So far policewomen have mostly been considered incapable of assuming leadership. This time [Ester is] entrusted with this role, otherwise we would have no way of ascertaining women’s capabilities,’’ Tito Karnavian said.
As the first female district police chief in Papua, Ester sees the job as a challenge to prove that policewomen are also able to head the law enforcement office.
“If I’m not successful the policewomen corps will have a bad record. So I should ensure that following my leadership, other policewomen can fill the same post,” she added.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.