Under Threat, Papuan Customary Leader Yasinta Moiwend Seeks LPSK Protection

Papuan customary leader Yasinta Moiwend visited the office of the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK) in Ciracas, East Jakarta, on Friday (5/6). Her visit aimed to request state protection after she claimed to have received various forms of intimidation and slander following her report of alleged exploitation without permission in a documentary film titled Pesta Babi. Accompanied by her legal team, the woman affectionately known as Mama Sinta immediately underwent examination and provided a statement behind closed doors before LPSK officers. “After making a report to the Polda Metro Jaya’s Directorate of General Criminal Investigation, I have felt many negative things. I am requesting protection from the state through the LPSK,” Yasinta said in Jakarta on Friday (5/6). Mama Yasinta detailed a number of psychological attacks and character assassinations she experienced on social media after her case progressed with the police. One of them was an accusation that her trip to Jakarta was facilitated by certain parties using a luxurious private jet. “By God, that is not true. I paid for myself on a regular commercial aeroplane. In Jakarta, I am free to go anywhere, to Bogor, worship at a Pentecostal Church, shop for necessities, and eat at crowded street food stalls,” she asserted. Furthermore, a police report emerged at the Merauke Police Station from an unknown individual claiming that she had been kidnapped and intimidated while in the capital. Yasinta firmly denied this narrative. “The funny thing is that the person who reported it to the Merauke Police is neither family nor a resident of my village. Why are they busy spreading rumours that I have been kidnapped when I am focused on handling the legal case against the people exploiting me? I am perfectly fine in Jakarta,” she puzzled. Responding to the request, the LPSK stated they had officially received the draft protection application from the customary leader. LPSK Commissioner Sri Suparyati confirmed the report and stated that her party would review the case, which relates to an alleged violation of the Personal Data Protection (PDP) crime. This legal feud began when Mama Yasinta officially reported the Director of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) Papua Merauke, Johnny Teddy Wakum, and film director Dandhy Dwi Laksono to Polda Metro Jaya on Friday (29/5). Both were reported for alleged violations of Article 65 in conjunction with Article 67 of Law Number 27 of 2022 concerning Personal Data Protection, following the display of Yasinta’s face and identity in the film Pesta Babi, which was allegedly produced without her written consent.