Papua – Acting Governor of Central Papua, Rebekah Haluk, said that the Central Papua Provincial Government has never remained silent regarding recent events, including the case of forced violence against two women by a group of men, along with the anti-militarism demonstration in the Jayanti area, Nabire, Friday, April 5 2024 and the shooting of two children, Nando Duwitau (13) and Nopina Duwitau (6), during a firefight between security forces and the West Papua National Liberation Army armed group in Sugapa, Intan Jaya Regency, Monday (8/4/2024).
Ribka Haluk in Jayapura City, Tuesday (9/4/2024), as quoted from jubi.id, said that the two incidents received serious attention from the Central Papua Province Regional Leadership Coordination Forum (Forkopimda) by visiting the victims, providing assistance and covering all costs. hospital costs for Nopina Duwitau.
“So it is not true if there is a response that the Central Papua Provincial Government has ignored these two cases,” he said.
According to Haluk, after the incident, he and Forkopimda responded quickly by visiting forced victims who were being treated in hospital, visiting one child victim who was hit by a stone during the demonstration which ended in chaos.
“But because there is privacy that needs to be maintained, only mothers are allowed to enter. “So it’s not true that there was neglect,” he said.
According to Haluk, the victims told him about the chronology of what happened to them and both of them were conscious when telling the story.
After the incident, added Haluk, until now the situation in the city of Nabire, the capital of Central Papua Province, is still observed to be conducive and people are carrying out their activities as usual.
“There was indeed an incident, but it did not spread to other areas. “The only thing that is unsafe is the area where the incident occurred and that location is very far from the city center,” he said.
He said he also responded quickly regarding the burning of a house belonging to a prayer room keeper or marbut which was set on fire by people on the same day as the demonstration.
“We also went directly to the fire victims and handed over compensation and assistance with the costs of building houses and prayer rooms that were burned,” he said.
This response, he said, was also related to the case of two children who were shot during a firefight between security forces and the TPNPB armed group in Intan Jaya.
“One of them actually died and the one who was still alive we immediately helped evacuate to Nabire Hospital and we, the government, have also been polite,” he said.
Regarding cases of violence that occurred in his area, Haluk said he had asked the security forces to thoroughly investigate these cases.
“Let the security forces work to thoroughly investigate this case,” he said.
National Human Rights Commission appreciates
Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) Representative for Papua, Frits Ramandey, appreciated the quick response carried out by the Acting Governor and Forkopimda of Central Papua in responding to cases of violence that occurred and resulted in civilian casualties.
“This is a form of fulfilling human rights, a form of the state’s responsibility to make all its efforts and efforts, this has been done by the Acting Governor,” said Ramandey.
According to Ramandey, this authority must actually be used by all civil authorities (regional heads) in responding to cases of violence that occur, because if left unchecked, it will be the security forces (TNI-Polri) who come and that will not solve the problem. Instead, it becomes stagnant and creates estrangement.
“Therefore, Komnas HAM really appreciates and hopes that this policy can be an example for civil authorities or other regional heads in Papua, especially areas that are categorized as conflict-prone,” he said.
Meanwhile, Papua Regional Police Chief Inspector General Mathius D Fakhiri ordered Intan Jaya Resort Police Chief (Kapolres) AKBP Afrizal Asri to investigate the shooting incident of two children named Nando Duwitau (13) and Nopina Duwitau (6) during a firefight between security forces and a group. armed West Papua National Liberation Army occurred.
“It is true that there was a firefight between the Cartenz Peace Task Force and the Undius Kogoya group in Intan Jaya, and in the firefight there were two civilian victims, namely children,” said Fakhiri.
Due to this incident, Fakhiri admitted that he was very concerned and would immediately investigate the case, including finding out why there were children in the shooting area.
“I’m not saying that these children are part of them, but this is not the first time that civilians have become victims during firefights between the authorities and the TPNPB, so we will investigate,” he said.
Inspector General Fakhiri also said he would evaluate the actions of his personnel in the field regarding carrying out firefights in places where there were civilians.
“Of course we will evaluate it and in the future we will tell you to be more careful during firefights in places where there are civilians so that there are no more civilian casualties,” he said.
Separately, Head of the Cartenz Peace Operations Public Relations Task Force AKBP Bayu Suseno explained that on April 8 2024 at around 10.00 WIT, the Cartenz Peace Law Enforcement Task Force succeeded in arresting a person named Bui Wonda alias Bossman Wenda to then carry out an investigation regarding weapons and ammunition.
Then at around 14.00 WIT, a group suspected of being TPNPB in the Intan Jaya area led by Undius Kogoya made an attempt to free Bui Wonda (BW) by attacking the Bank Papua post in Intan Jaya.
As a result of the attack, the Bank Papua post was heavily damaged, the Task Force members were safe, but at around 14.30 WIT information was obtained that two people had been shot. Hearing this, he added, the Cartenz Peace Task Force immediately went to the scene of the crime to evacuate the two victims to the Bilogai Community Health Center to be given medical assistance.
