Police scuttle attempts to fly Papuan flag
Police scuttle attempts to fly Papuan flag
Nethy Dharma Somba and Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post/Jayapura, Papua
The police have foiled an attempt to raise the outlawed Bintang
Kejora (Morning Star) flag, keeping pro-independence action
planned for Dec. 1 low-key.
Hundreds of police officers had been deployed since early
Thursday morning to Trikora field to prevent pro-independence
leaders from raising their flag. The police action on Thursday
certainly disappointed pro-independence Papuans who used logs to
blockade a street in front of Cendrawasih University near the
field. The group of independence supporters also pelted stones at
university buildings, shattering windows.
The 700 independence supporters then marched from the
university to the nearby campus of a Protestant bible college,
unfurling a banner that read "the 44th Anniversary of West Papua
Independence."
They entered the college's grounds, asking students to
participate in the rally. But, as the students refused to join
in, they assembled on a street in front of the campus.
Under tight security, they held a rally, speaking on Papua's
incorporation into Indonesian territory.
The police detained two protesters for putting the logs on the
road, but Jayapura Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Paulus Waterpauw
claimed they were not being held as suspects but merely for
questioning.
Although the flag-hoisting attempt was prevented, peaceful
commemorations of Papua "independence day" were held in Sentani
near Jayapura at the house of Theys Hiyo Eluay, who was abducted
and killed by security personnel in 2002 in Papua.
A prayer was said at the function and an address was delivered
condemning a UN ballot in 1969, which led to Papua's
incorporation into Indonesia.
In a separate development, an Indonesian soldier shot dead a
Papuan on the same day in Boven Digul regency, some 250
kilometers north of Merauke city, Papua. Military spokesman Lt.
Col. Totok Surono said the Papuan, Labarius Oga, 33, an employee
with a private company was shot dead for attacking soldier Chief
Pvt. Zulkarnaen Lubis. Labarius was reportedly drunk at the time
of the incident.
In Makassar, South Sulawesi, over 30 Papuan students held a
rally in the city, demanding the Indonesian government grant
Papua independence. In Jakarta, Minister of Defense Juwono
Sudarsono said the government would deploy some 15,000 soldiers
to Papua within five years in order to prevent conflicts that
could lead to an independent Papua.
Dec. 1 was declared Papuan independence day by separatists who
proclaimed the state of West Papua on Dec. 1, 1962.
Indonesia took effective control of Papuan territory a year
later, after which the separatist movement continued to wage a
low-level guerrilla revolt in the province.