2,000 Mobile Brigade troops to be sent to Irian Jaya
2,000 Mobile Brigade troops to be sent to Irian Jaya
JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya (JP): Some 2,000 of the police's mobile
brigade (Brimob) troops will soon be sent to Irian Jaya to
maintain security and order in the whole area of the easternmost
province, Irian Jaya police chief Brig. Gen. SY Wenas said here
on Wednesday.
"They will be deployed in all regencies in the province,"
Wenas said, adding that the dispatch was scheduled to take place
on July 12.
Responding to the plan, Don Flassy, a leading proindependence
figure for West Papua, said that sending new Brimob troops would
not guarantee people's security.
"However, it is the Irian Jaya Police chief SY Wenas and
Military chief Maj. Gen. Albert Inkiriwang who have the right to
add to the number of troops. We, the Papuans, have no say in
that," Flassy said.
"They know the situation in the area, but the plan would
probably result in chaos."
He criticized the speaker of the People's Consultative
Assembly Amien Rais and House of Representatives speaker Akbar
Tandjung who announced the smuggling of 12,000 guns to the
province.
"They (Amien and Akbar) will just mess up Papua and make the
soil like Maluku or Poso in Central Sulawesi, because they knew
about the illegal shipping of the guns, while we Papuans did
not," he said.
The second Papuan Congress, which took place from May 29 to
June 4, recommended that any political case be settled through
dialog, negotiation and other non-violent means, said Flassy, who
also chairs the Independent Committee of Papua.
"Even the members of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) have
pledged since 1997 not to use violence in struggling for West
Papuan independence," he said.
Meanwhile, in the West Java capital of Bandung, the Army chief
of staff Gen. Tyasno Sudarto said that the government must pay
more attention to the development of Irian Jaya.
"Wise, careful, prompt and appropriate action must be taken
to deal with the Papuans' demand for independence. The integrity
of the nation is at stake," Tyasno said.
The lingering problems relating to welfare, justice and human
rights provoked Papuans to separate from the Republic of
Indonesia, he added. "Years of ignorance must be compensated
soon."
Separately in Jakarta on Tuesday night, President Abdurrahman
Wahid met with members of the Papua Presidium at a private
residence on Jl. Irian, Central Jakarta.
The head of the presidium Theys Eluay told journalists that he
and other presidium members briefed the President on the results
of the recent Papuan People's Congress.
"The meeting went well, in an open and honest fashion," he
added.
Secretary general of the presidium, Thaha Alhamid, claimed
that the two sides had agreed to establish an independent team to
peacefully mediate the interests of the two parties.(25/sur)