Governor of Papua Pegunungan: There Must Be No More Inter-Tribal Warfare as It Undermines Brotherhood

Governor of Papua Pegunungan John Tabo stressed that tribal warfare must not occur again across the entire Papua Pegunungan region. He said tribal wars should no longer take place in Papua Pegunungan because they can damage familial ties, kinship, and brotherhood among all the indigenous peoples in the area.

‘Sesuai hasil kesempatan bersama mulai saat ini tidak boleh lagi ada perang suku di seluruh wilayah Papua Pegunungan,’ said in Wamena, Monday (18/5/2026).

‘Kami minta kepada aparat keamanan untuk menindak tegas ketika masih ada masyarakat yang melakukan gerakan tambahan atau perang suku di wilayah Papua Pegunungan,’ he added.

The Governor explained that going forward, in line with directions from the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) of the Republic of Indonesia, to immediately draft a special regional regulation (Raperdasus) and a provincial regional regulation (Raperdasi) on banning tribal warfare in Papua Pegunungan. ‘We will oversee this, in line with the direction from Deputy Minister for Home Affairs (Wamendagri) Ribka Haluk that Raperdasus and Raperdasi must be prepared by the Majelis Rakyat Papua (MRP) Papua Pegunungan and will accompany it together with Kemendagri,’ he said.

He added that going forward any issue related to law would be resolved using positive law and not customary law. ‘The people of Papua Pegunungan across eight regencies must resolve future issues in this region using positive law so that tribal wars do not occur again,’ he said.