https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/indonesian/indonesia-papua-violence-06252021130252.html
1) Suspected Rebels Kill 4 Workers, Take Hostages in Indonesia’s Papua Region
Suspected separatist rebels killed four construction workers and were holding four people hostage in the latest burst of violence in Indonesia’s Papua region, police and reports said Friday, as the insurgents warned non-ethnic Papuan workers to leave conflict areas.
The incident unfolded amid a government crackdown on armed Papuan rebels and after Jakarta classified them as terrorists in the wake of the killings by insurgents of an army general, a policeman and four civilians in April.
On Thursday, around 30 suspected members of the Free Papua Movement ambushed a truck carrying construction materials for the Trans Papua Highway megaproject in Yahukimo regency, and attacked workers with arrows, axes, machetes and rifles, provincial police spokesman Ahmad Musthofa Kamal said, citing witnesses.
“At 3:50 [p.m.], the Yahukimo police received information from eyewitnesses that there had been shootings of people in Bingky village,” Kamal said in a statement.
The four people killed were workers at a bridge project, which is part of the 4,300-km- (2,672- mile-) long highway. They were identified as Suardi, Sudarto, Idin, and Saiful, Kamal said.
“Our team is on the way to the scene. It is far from the main town [of Dekai] in Yahukimo and can take four hours by road,” he said.
Indonesian-language reports published on Friday by local news outlets the Voice of Indonesia and Detik quoted Kamal as saying the rebels had also taken four hostages.
A spokesman for the military in Papua – a region at the far-eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago where a separatist insurgency has simmered since the 1960s – said the attack was a deliberate attempt to sabotage the construction of the megaproject initiated by the government of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
This latest attack was reminiscent of a December 2018 strike when insurgents shot dead at least 20 workers who were building a bridge for the same highway project in Nduga regency. Violence has bubbled over in the region ever since.
“These are terrorists who don’t want Papua to be developed and prosperous and make civilians victims of their acts of terror,” military spokesman Col. I Gusti Nyoman Suriastawa said, adding that security forces were hunting the attackers.
The National Liberation Army of West Papua, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, did not claim responsibility for Thursday’s attack, but urged migrants from other parts of Indonesia to exit conflict areas of Papua at once.
“Whether you are construction workers, motorcycle taxi drivers, any profession, leave the war zones immediately, especially Puncak, Intan Jaya, Ndugama, Yahukimo and Pegunungan Bintang Mountains,” Sebby Sambom, the armed wing’s spokesman, said in a statement when the media asked about Thursday’s violence.
“Don’t listen to the TNI and police who said that civilians will not be victimized. There’s no guarantee. The TNI and Polri are deceiving you. If you die, it’s your family’s loss,” he said, using the Indonesian acronym for the military.
Military spokesman Suriastawa had urged the public to ignore a similar call from Sambom earlier this month, saying security forces would protect all Papuans from the insurgents.
‘Have identified armed terrorists in Papua’
Meanwhile, a spokesman for a joint police and military operation codenamed Nemangkawi, said that security forces had arrested 11 rebels and killed four others between May and June 12.
“We have identified armed terrorists in Papua, their network and the location of their camps. It’s just a matter of time,” the operation’s spokesman M. Iqbal Alqudussy said in a statement on Friday.
President Jokowi had ordered security forces to intensify operations against the rebels after a spate of violence in April.
Cahyo Pamungkas, a researcher on Papua at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, said crackdowns and the use of force were not the best way to deal with separatist groups.
“What the government is dealing with are groups who want independence. From the outset it should have sent negotiators, not security forces,” Cahyo told BenarNews.
Besides, the increase in violence in Papua has seriously affected the people in the province, he said.
“The government should initiate a humanitarian pause and then start dialogue with [armed] groups,” Cahyo said.
In 1963, Indonesian forces invaded the Papua region – which makes up the western half of New Guinea Island – and annexed it.
Many Papuans and rights groups said the 1969 vote, known as the Act of Free Choice, was a sham because it involved only about 1,000 people. However, the United Nations accepted the result, which essentially endorsed Indonesia’s rule.
"There is a report that Bingki villagers have sought refuge in Dekai since Thursday (June 24, 2021) via land and river," chief of the Sub-regional Military Command 172/PWY, Brig.Gen Izak Pangemanan, said here on Friday.
The village is now empty, he said, without divulging the number of refugees.
According to Pangemanan, villagers are afraid of another attack by the armed group.
The head of the village, Obaja Nang, was injured in the attack. Meanwhile, the separatists fatally shot four construction workers engaged in constructing a bridge over the Kali Wit River in Yahukimo district.
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The armed group also attacked and shot at a PT Papua Crenoma truck carrying building material.
Nang was initially believed to be dead, but later it was discovered that he was in a critical condition and had been evacuated by villagers to Dekai, Pangemanan informed.
The military has evacuated the bodies of the four construction workers by helicopter to Dekai for an autopsy.
The four workers have been identified as Suardi, Sudarto, Idin, and Ipa, Pangemanan said.
In early December, 2018, an armed Papuan group killed 31 construction workers engaged in building the Kali Yigi-Kali Aurak bridge in Nduga district.
On June 3, 2021, a construction worker was murdered in Eronggobak, Ilaga, Puncak, Papua.(INE)
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JAKARTA: Separatist rebels were holding four civilians hostage in the jungles of Indonesia's breakaway Papua region after they killed several construction workers in an ambush, authorities said on Friday (Jun 25).
Tensions have been mounting between Indonesian security forces and guerrillas fighting a decades-long insurgency to win independence from the Southeast Asian nation.
Authorities said around 30 rebels opened fire on Thursday on a group of Indonesian construction workers building new homes in the province's central Yahukimo regency, killing at least four people.
Rescue operations to find another four people being held hostage by the rebels are underway, according to the military and Papua police spokesman Ahmad Musthofa Kamal.
"Our team is on their way to the site," Kamal told AFP on Friday. It was not clear if all of the hostages were construction workers.
A rebel spokesman could not be reached for comment and AFP was unable to independently verify the account.
READ: Indonesian police arrest Papuan independence figure for suspected treason
Tensions in the conflict-wracked region have soared in recent months, punctuated by deadly clashes after rebels killed Indonesia's top intelligence chief in Papua in April.
Jakarta responded by formally designating Papuan separatists as "terrorists", sparking fears it could open the door to more violence and rights abuses.
Indonesia's counter-terrorism laws give authorities enhanced powers, including holding suspects for several weeks without formal charges.
The latest incident comes more than two years after Papuan rebels killed 17 construction workers at a remote jungle camp.
The massacre marked an escalation in decades of mostly sporadic skirmishes between poorly armed and disorganised guerrillas and an Indonesian military long accused of gross human rights abuses against civilians.
A former Dutch colony, mineral-rich Papua declared itself independent in 1961, but neighbouring Jakarta took control two years later promising an independence referendum.
The subsequent vote in favour of staying part of Indonesia was widely considered a sham.
The provincial government has appointed chief of the Border and Foreign Cooperation (BPKLN), Suzana Wanggai, as the person in-charge of showcasing the province at the event.
"We are still discussing ways and steps to make preparations for the Pacific Exposition 2021," Wanggai said.
To that end, BPKLN is coordinating with relevant agencies to prepare for the event, she added.
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She said she has checked the province's resources that will be displayed at the Pacific Exposition and the province's potential to be promoted at the event
"But in essence, Papua is prepared to participate in the Pacific Exposition," she added.
Earlier, Indonesian Ambassador to New Zealand, Tantowi Yahya, had expressed the hope that Papua would participate in Pacific Exposition 2021.
"I am optimistic that Papua will do much this time," he said.
During an online meeting with the ambassador, Papua's vice governor had offered to showcase a wide range of products, including Buah Merah (red fruit), at the expo. (INE)
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"The second round of special autonomy funds should have been transferred in June at the latest," Papua's Assistant Secretary for Economic and Social Welfare Affairs Muhammad Musa'ad stated.
However, as of Thursday, the provincial government had yet to receive the second round of the funds, Musa'ad noted in a press statement that ANTARA quoted in Jayapura on Friday.
The provincial administration has distributed the first round of special autonomy funds that it had earlier received from the central government to all regional administrations, he revealed.
Musa'ad highlighted the importance of available funds for the government's programs, including funding infrastructure facilities for Papua's 2021 PON National Games.
"We have never held the special autonomy funds that the central government has transferred. In its place, we directly disburse them to all district and city administrations," he explained.
The Papua special autonomy law, which has paved the way for a significant amount of funds to flow into Papua and West Papua, has been in force for almost two decades.
With the law set to expire in November this year, the bill for amending it is being deliberated in the House of Representatives (DPR).
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To meet the deadline, the House members have listed it as one of the dozens of priority bills in this year's National Legislation Program (Prolegnas).
According to data provided by the Finance Ministry, the government has allocated Rp138.65 trillion towards Papua and West Papua's special autonomy funds and additional funds for infrastructure projects so far.
Meanwhile, the government has disbursed Rp702.3 trillion in regional transfers and village funds to the two provinces during the period between 2002 and 2021, according to People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker Bambang Soesatyo.
Despite the flow of large amounts of central government funds into Papua and West Papua, the two provinces are still grappling with ways to improve the quality of their human capital. Their scores on Indonesia's 2020 Human Development Index have remained below the national average of 71.94.
According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), Papua and West Papua scored 60.44 and 65.09, respectively, on the 2020 Human Development Index, much lower than Aceh Province that scored 71.94.
The BPS data released in February this year further pegged the poverty rates in Papua and West Papua at 26.8 percent and 21.7 percent, respectively.
Development outcomes remain inequitable for native Papuan communities, as indicated by their low income levels and lack of access to education and health services, it pointed out.
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