Terrorists undertook the deadly raid in West Papua, said a prominent local human rights promoter
The public in Indonesia, especially in West Papua, sincerely regretted the brutal action of the West Papuan armed criminal groups that brutally raided and shot innocent workers of Freeport Indonesia in Kuala Kencana, Mimika, Papua.
The heartless ambush was deeply regrettable because it was undertaken amid the nation’s struggle, including the West Papua region, facing the deadly coronavirus outbreak (Covid-19).
“They are acting without regard to the world that is experiencing a disaster (of Covid-19). The government should call this criminal group a ‘world-class terrorist’,” said the Head of the Office of the National Human Rights Commission for Papua, Frits Ramandey, as reported by Antara and Medcom on Tuesday, March 31, 2020.
The rebels’ deadly raid, which took place on Monday, March 30, 2020, at around 14.15 local time, killed one person and caused two injuries, all of whom were workers of Freeport Indonesia. One person killed was a dedicated worker with New Zealand nationality. The two injured people are Indonesian and still traumatized.
“We regret the broad daylight shooting,” he told Wartaplus, Tuesday (31/3) morning. “We regret this incident (for whatever the name of violence that makes other people die).”
Frits, though, also considered that the warnings of the attack on PT Freeport had been conveyed by the rebels group, commonly known as TPNPB, for a long time. “This should have been well-analyzed,” he regretted as reported by Wartaplus.
Frits, who is also a former, one of the earliest journalists of a locally renowned magazine Jubi emphasized that the rebels’ struggle has been evident. It is that they want to separate themselves and establish their own independent country.
“They are not fighting for religion, where this is their struggle for ideology and for wanting to separate themselves (from Indonesia),” Frits said.
Regarding this deadly incident, Freeport Indonesia Vice President Corporate Communications, Riza Pratama said, as reported by various media in Indonesia, that they, “are very saddened by the loss of a colleague who died in a shooting incident that occurred in the PT Freeport Indonesia office area, in Kuala Kencana, Timika — Papua, Monday (30/3).
“We express our deepest condolences for the families left behind.”
On an official press release, the Ambassador of Indonesia to New Zealand, Tantowi Yahya, expressed his serious concern on the incident, and stressed that such act could not be justified from all perspectives.
“The armed criminal group in Papua always claims they will only attack security forces. The fact shows that the majority of their victims are civilians,” said Ambassador Yahya.
“The Shooting in Kuala Kencana will only add the burdens of the people and security apparatus in Papua, who are now working hard in containing the Covid-19 epidemic. It demonstrates that the armed criminal group never cares about the impact of their actions to the Papuans.
“I hope this will open the eyes of many people of the true face of the armed criminal group.” (*)
