ABRI investigates NGO allegedly behind Irian riots

ABRI investigates NGO allegedly behind Irian riots

JAKARTA (JP): The Armed Forces (ABRI) is investigating an allegation that a Jakarta-based non-governmental organization has been masterminding the recent spate of rioting in Irian Jaya.

Chief of ABRI's General Affairs Department Lt. Gen. Soeyono said in Semarang yesterday that the authorities had seized leaflets, with the organization's name on it, exhorting Irianese to revolt.

Soeyono declined to name the organization. He also stressed he would only name it and accuse it of sowing hatred toward the government if the investigation finds hard evidence.

The non-governmental organization has also disseminated its message through radio and facsimile, he said.

"It is also possible that the actual instigator used the organization as a coverup. We are investigating all possibilities," he was quoted by Antara.

The easternmost province of Irian Jaya has been rocked by a flurry of violent rioting that authorities alleged was the work of secessionist Free Papua Movement (OPM) rebels.

On Monday, hundreds of angry people burned down the Abepura market near the Irian capital of Jayapura after they were barred from seeing the body of OPM activist Tom Wanggai. He died while serving a 20 year prison term in Jakarta.

Earlier, tribal people around the premises of the giant copper and gold mining company PT Freeport in Timika had rioted after a native was hit by a vehicle belonging to a company employee.

Soeyono said ABRI is tracking down those "irresponsible people" it believes were behind the rioting in both Timika and Abepura.

In Jayapura, the Protestant church has condemned the Abepura rioting earlier this week, in which four people were killed and 89 arrested in the aftermath.

Irian Jaya's three largest churches, the Evangelical Church, the Pentecostal Church and the Indonesian Christian Church issued a joint statement in which they said that Christianity does not support violence.

Officials of these churches made their position clear in a meeting with local tribal leaders and military officials at the Trikora military command headquarters in Jayapura on Wednesday night.

Spokesman for the churches Rev. Andreas Ayomi made it clear that Christianity strictly forbids any form of violence.

Besides torching the Abepura market, the angry mob also set fire to vehicles and pelted buildings with stones on Monday, causing considerable material losses.

Ayomi called on the people to stop the violence, warning that such unlawful acts might be exploited by irresponsible parties which wish to see Indonesia disintegrate.

Wanggai's relatives, he said, were able to accept the official version that the Free Papua Movement (OPM) activist had died of illness, and was not murdered as is rumored.

Ayomi also called on OPM supporters to forget their dream of making Irian Jaya a state independent from Indonesia.

He also pointed out that the government should pay serious attention to the well-being of Irian Jayans, so that the province can catch up with other provinces. (pan)