Timika calm but tense amidst tight security

JAKARTA (JP): Timika, in Irian Jaya's Mimika regency, remained quiet but tense over the weekend as tight security blanketed the area following an outbreak of violence in Harapan Kwamki Lama village.

Local witnesses said scores of army and police personnel were dispatched to watch the town's main roads.

Dozens of emergency security posts were also set up in the town.

"All Irianese leaving the village for Timika will be searched as they go through the check points, in case they bring weapons," a resident said yesterday.

No reports of new clashes were reported yesterday.

Timika was tense Friday after two Ekari tribesmen were killed when security officers tried to disperse a group of Kwamki Lama villagers protesting the earlier deaths of two tribesmen.

The two victims -- Stevanus Pakeke, 23, shot in the head and Timotius Koga, 21 shot in the stomach -- were among 200 mostly Ekari tribesman marching downtown to the local police station.

They were demanding police investigate the deaths of two Ekari hitchhikers who fell off a vehicle belonging to PT Freeport Indonesia mining company Wednesday.

The tension in Timika had calmed Saturday according to Antara, who quoted Mimika police precinct chief Lt. Col. Idrus Gassing as saying that the situation was under control.

"It's business as usual now, no upheavals," Gassing was quoted as saying after attending the funeral of the four Ekari tribesmen.

Also present at the security-tight funeral were Mimika military chief Lt. Col. Wilston P. Simanjuntak and Mimika Regent O. Putereyauw.

Gassing said the two who were shot dead were shot with rubber bullets after they had attacked on-duty military officers with arrows and spears.

Gassing said police were still investigating the two earlier deaths.

Last week's violence erupted just days after local church leaders warned that the disbursement of the one percent trust fund given by PT Freeport to local tribes could spark jealousy and tribal warfare.

PT Freeport set up the plan, under which it gives one percent of the company's annual earnings to the trust fund, after ethnic violence around Timika led to the deaths of 12 people last year.

Jakarta-based spokesman for PT Freeport Indonesia, Ed Pressman, said last week that the company was aware of the problems with the funding mechanism, and that the company was hoping that church leaders would be willing to help fix the problems. (aan)