The recent assault on workers of state-owned construction company PT Istaka Karya will not put an end to the development projects in Papua. Military and police personnel will be deployed to guard development projects in the province.
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AP PHOTO/ANYONG
Indonesian Mobile Brigade police officers head out of Wamena on Dec. 4 to Nduga, where 31 construction workers are believed to have been shot dead. Indonesia is investigating the reported shooting in the restive Papua province, the public works minister said on Dec. 4 as he halted construction in the area.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The assault on workers of PT Istaka Karya at the bridge construction sites of the Kali Yigi and Kali Yaurak rivers in Yigi district, Nduga regency, Papua, will not stop local development projects. Military personnel and police officers are to be deployed to guard development projects in the province.
“We are not afraid of such things,” President Joko Widodo said in Jakarta on Tuesday (4/12/2018).
The President made the statement in response to the assault on PT Istaka Karya road workers in Nduga on Sunday (2/12), allegedly committed by an armed militia led by Egianus Kogoya.
Around 40 members of Egianus’ group also reportedly attacked an Indonesian Military (TNI) post in Nduga’s Mbua district on Monday at 6:30 Eastern Indonesia Time. Sgt. Handoko was killed in the attack, while another soldier sustained gunshot wounds. The two victims are to be recovered from the area today.
A joint team of 153 military and police personnel have been deployed to rescue and recover victims and to hunt down the perpetrators.
On Tuesday, the joint team rescued 12 people from Yigi and Mbua districts, comprising four Istaka Karya workers and eight Papuans working in Mbua.
TNI Commander Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto said the four rescued workers told the military that 25 workers had been taken hostage, of which 14 had been shot dead and the remaining 11 escaped. “They were taken hostage in Mt. Kaboh, Yigi district,” said Hadi.
Of the 11 escaped hostages, three were killed when the militia group reportedly gave chase. Of the eight other escaped hostages, two were later killed and another two were missing.
Of the remaining four escaped hostages who were rescued, three had gunshot wounds.
Aside from the 25 Istaka Karya workers, eight other local workers were at a nearby location when the hostage incident occurred. Upon hearing gunshots, they fled and hid in a Nduga councilor’s home in Karoptok hamlet.
The acting head of the National Commission on Human Rights’ (Komnas HAM) Papua office, Frits Ramandey, said that Egianus’ group attacked the Istaka Karya workers, believing that some of the workers were undercover intelligence personnel. “We received information from our team in Nduga that Egianus’ group became angry when one of the workers took photos of the Papuan independence ceremony in Yigi on Saturday (1/12),” said Frits.
Conflict risk
President Joko Widodo said Nduga was among the Papuan regions with a high risk of armed conflicts. The President, who has visited Nduga, said that development in the region would not be easy. Apart from security disruptions, difficulty of access and lack of communications signals were two other major problems.
Security disruptions also occurred in the area during the Papua gubernatorial election on June 27. Voting proceeded as scheduled in only three districts, while the ballot in 29 other districts were delayed because local armed groups shot at the airplane carrying election material and equipment as it approached Nduga’s Kenyam Airfield.
Nevertheless, the President reaffirmed that infrastructure development in Papua would continue and that the government would not cancel its plans due to security disruptions. Military and police personnel would be deployed to guard the development projects.
Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said that the attack in Nduga had not damaged the spirit to complete the trans-Papua road. The road was highly needed, especially to support the logistics distribution route connecting Mamugu and Wamena.
Basuki said that Sunday’s incident occurred at two Istaka Karya bridge project sites, at Kilometer 102+525 on the Yaurak river and at Kilometer 103+97 on the Yigi river. The projects were two of the 11 bridge projects Istaka Karya managed, out of a total of 14 contracted bridge projects. A total of 35 bridges will be erected on the 278-kilometer route between Wamena and Mamugu.
Istaka Karya president director Sigit Winarto said the company had 28 workers at the two sites. “The victims most likely are our workers from outside Papua. They will be evacuated,” he said.
Papua Police chief Sr. Comr. Ahmad Mustofa Kamal said that the poor geographical condition and access were obstacles to evacuating the workers. It took six to seven hours to travel the 90 kilometers from Wamena to Mbua district, and only 40 kilometers of the local roads were asphalted. From Mbua, the journey continued on foot for around 10 kilometers to reach Yigi.
National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Muhammad Iqbal said that the public should not be concerned, as Papua remained safe.
