Two men killed as troops disperse protest in Timika<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Two people died yesterday in the Irian Jaya town
\nof Timika when security officers tried to disperse a group of
\nlocals demonstrating over the earlier deaths of two fellow
\ntribesmen.<\/p>\n
Stevanus Pekeke, 23, and Timotius Koga, 21, of the Ekari tribe
\nin the Harapan Kwamki Lama village were shot in the head and the
\nabdomen respectively, a church source said.<\/p>\n
The two were among about 200 people of mostly Ekari
\ntribespeople marching downtown toward the local police station
\nyesterday morning. The group demanded that police investigate the
\ndeath of two Ekari hitchhikers who fell off a vehicle belonging
\nto PT Freeport Indonesia mining company on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The source said Pekeke died on the spot while Koga died in the
\nhospital. Their bodies were claimed by their families in the
\nKwamki Lama village, population of which is about 1,000 people,
\nmostly Ekari.<\/p>\n
The source said the demonstrators were halfway en route to the
\npolice station when a group broke away and started marching
\ntoward the place where the bodies of the teenagers were found.<\/p>\n
Security officers had blocked the roads leading both to the
\nstation and to the site where the teenagers were found.<\/p>\n
The officers tried to persuade the villagers to go home when
\nsomeone fired an arrow and wounded one officer. A melee then
\nbroke out and the officers fired warning shots, hitting the two
\nEkari.<\/p>\n
The local military and police could not be reached for
\nconfirmation yesterday, but Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. A.
\nWahab Mokodongan gave a different version about the tension in
\nthe mining town.<\/p>\n
He said four people had indeed died, two Wednesday while the
\nother two died on Thursday. The first two died after they jumped
\noff a moving vehicle they were riding on their way home from a
\nmusical show.<\/p>\n
He said the two were among four villagers hitching a ride in a
\ncar belonging to PT Freeport Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"En route to Freeport's mining areas, the four asked the
\ndriver to stop, but their request was ignored,\" he said. \"They
\nsuddenly jumped out of the car. Two died after they landed on
\ntheir heads while the other two were injured.\"<\/p>\n
Two other people died Thursday of troops' gunshots in a riot,
\nMokodongan said. The troops, attempting to disperse the rioters,
\nhad to open fire at the tribesmen who had started to shoot arrows
\nat them.<\/p>\n
He said that three soldiers were wounded by arrows Thursday.<\/p>\n
Tension<\/p>\n
Church leaders in Timika, some 3,000 kilometers east of
\nJakarta, had warned last week that tension was rising in the town
\nover a dispute about the distribution of a development program
\nfund by PT Freeport Indonesia Company, the operators of the
\nnearby Grasberg copper and gold mine, one of the largest in the
\nworld.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, for instance, around 70 armed supporters of the
\nleader of the Moni tribe held a noisy demonstration around the
\nHarapan Kwamki Lama village, demanding that another Moni leader
\nsplit his Rp 2.3 billion (US$800,000) from the fund with them.<\/p>\n
Last year, 12 people died when tribal warfare broke out in
\nconnection with a dispute over the company's 1 percent
\ndevelopment program fund.<\/p>\n
Jakarta-based PT Freeport spokesman Ed Pressman separately
\ntold The Jakarta Post that the company was aware of the tension
\nin Timika.<\/p>\n
\"We agree with the church leaders that there are some problems
\nwith the funding of the Integrated Timika Development Program. We
\nare eager to fix these problems and believe that the church
\nleaders have a role to play in helping us accomplish this,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Pressman said the \"unfortunate events\" that occurred yesterday
\nwere \"unrelated\" to the controversy over the development program
\nfunds. He also said the company's operation had not been affected
\nby the events.<\/p>\n
PT Freeport Indonesia is 86 percent owned by New Orleans-based
\nFreeport McMoRan Copper and Gold with the Indonesian government
\nand foundations holding the remainder. (aan\/imn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/two-men-killed-as-troops-disperse-protest-in-timika-1447893297",
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