‘I Will Guard Them With My Life’

KOMPAS/FABIO M LOPES COSTA

Motorcyclists pass in front of one of the buildings that was gutted by a fire during a riot in Wamena, Jayawijaya regency, Papua, on Wednesday (2/10/2019).

Rioting broke out on 23 Sept. 2019 in Wamena, Papua, leaving more than 10,000 residents waiting to be evacuated from the city in the center of the Indonesian territory of Papua. They are preparing to leave, their hearts full of love for the people of Wamena.

On Monday (23/9/2019) at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Indonesia Time (WIT), 45-year-old Titus Kogoya was with several members of his family in downtown Wamena, Jayawijaya regency. The city, tucked among the cool highlands in Baliem Valley, became heated on that morning.

As he stopped by an ATM to withdraw money for a relative’s funeral, Titus saw thousands of people coming down the road, vandalizing and burning buildings, and attacking residents in their homes.

Titus hurried back home to Mawampi village in Wesaput district, near Wamena Airport. Along with Abeni Kogoya, 42, a relative, he gathered around 100 people from the outskirts of Wamena at his house.

Most of the people were rental car drivers, ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers and kiosk owners. Titus, Abeni and about 300 villagers closed the entrance to Mawampi village – around 500 meters from Titus’ house – by blocking the access road with timber.

Around 500 people armed with stones, machetes and arrows arrived at Theodorus’ house, demanding that he surrender the 16 people.

At exactly 9:00 a.m., a crowd of people armed with machetes and arrows arrived and attempted to enter the village. However, the villagers refused to let them in and asked them to go away.

“We were ready to face them if they forced their way in to disrupt the safety of Mawampi,” the father of three said at his house on Wednesday (2/10).

Thanks to the efforts of Titus and the other villagers, the rioters were unable to enter Mawampi. The people from other areas staying at Titus’ house were safe until that afternoon, when favorable conditions were restored in Wamena.

With the assistance of a police acquaintance, two police trucks arrived to transport the “refugees” to the Jayawijaya Police Headquarters (Mapolres).

“For us, they’re not only our neighbors, but also family, living together in this settlement,” said Titus, referring to his neighbors who come from Java, Makassar and other regions.

Theodorus Pawika took a similar action at his residence on Jl. Wouma, Wamena. At 9:00 a.m., hundreds of people set fire to shop-houses and houses on the road. The 60-year-old had hidden 16 local people – kiosk owners, food stall proprietors and ojek drivers – in his bedroom.

KOMPAS/FABIO M LOPES COSTA

Displaced people from Wamena, Jayawijaya regency, Papua, board a hercules plane belonging to the Indonesian Air Force to Jayapura, Tuesday (1/10/2019).

Around 500 people armed with stones, machetes and arrows arrived at Theodorus’ house, demanding that he surrender the 16 people. But the father of five, accompanied by his grandchild, gave a firm refusal, and then he sent them away.

“I told them, if [the 16] were killed, I would die as well. They are my children who were only making a living in Wamena. I will protect them,” said Theodorus.

Gratitude

Mak’iel, 36, and his family was among those that received the protection of Titus and the Mawampi villagers. Without them, his family’s fate was anybody’s guess.

“We’d probably be dead,” said the man from Probolinggo, East Java, expressing his deep gratitude for the villagers’ kindness.

On Wednesday morning, Mak’iel and his wife Atik were trying to calm their children, Ulil Albaq, 2, and Syaiful, 7 months, and get them to sleep on a mat at the Mapolres Jayawijaya evacuation shelter.

They had been there since the 23 Sept. riots, along with 3,000 other people. At night, the temperature in Wamena can drop to 10 degrees Celsius.

Another evacuee at the Mapolres Jayawijaya shelter, Dwi Josanyoto, 40, thanked God. During the riots, the unruly masses were getting ready to burn down his house and another house in Pikhe that held seven residents.

Many areas of the city were quiet throughout the day. The urban center was empty. Only small groups of people ventured outdoors.

The two houses had been drenched with gasoline. Suddenly, Dwi’s close acquaintance Utu, 23, appeared and asked the rioters to stop. It was like a miracle as the crowd complied with Utu’s request.

Utu immediately took Dwi and the others to a church in Pikhe. “We hid there until we took refuge at the police headquarters that afternoon,” said Dwi.

The demonstrations in Wamena that ended in rioting are over. The city is now deserted, after its non-Papuan residents fled.

On Thursday (3/10), thousands of soldiers and policemen were still stationed at several locations in the city and conducting regular patrols. Meanwhile, thousands of evacuees were waiting to board an Indonesian Air Force Hercules aircraft to Jayapura. From there, they would be flown to South Sulawesi, Java, West Sumatra, Nusa Tenggara and other regions.

Many areas of the city were quiet throughout the day. The urban center was empty. Only small groups of people ventured outdoors.

The situation was vastly different from the opening ceremony of the 30^th Baliem Valley Cultural Festival in Walesi district on 7 Aug. 2019, when the streets of Wamena were packed with local and foreign visitors. At least 1,000 visitors watched as 500 senior high school students of SMAN 1 Wamena performed a dance, as well as performers from 40 districts in Jayawijaya.

KOMPAS/FABIO M LOPES COSTA

Displaced people take shelter at the Jayawijaya Police headquarters in Papua on Wednesday (2/10/2019). Up to 3,000 people were accommodated at this police office during a riot that happened in Wamena, Jayawijaya regency, 23 September 2019.

What happened in September remains a mystery. Indonesian Institute of Sciences researcher Adriana Elisabeth believed that the Papuan people, like those in Wamena, welcomed residents from other regions in the country who were trying their luck in Papua, and thus suspected that the rioting was orchestrated by an unknown party.

The survivors’ stories show that the love of the Wamena people for their fellow man is real.

“I will guard them with my life,” said Theodorus.