Watch Out for OPM Anniversary as Momentum of Papuan Separatists Causing Riots
By: Sabby Kosay) *
The movements of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) and all its supporters in the Papua region are increasingly worrying. Especially ahead of the anniversary of the OPM in early December, which is generally often colored by OPM violence against innocent civil society. All forms of chaos that threaten peace in Papua must be addressed immediately so that the OPM does not proceed any further
Of course our memories are still clearly felt on December 1, 2018, where as many as 31 civilians died because of being hit by hot lead from an armed criminal group (KKB). The victims turned out to be infrastructure project workers who were working on construction. In addition to victims from migrants, the attack by the group also claimed the lives of indigenous Papuans.
In addition to attacking civilians, they also targeted security forces to be the target of their attacks. In a firefight contact in Tembagapura District. One Brimob member died and another was injured. This shows that the separatist movement in Papua has dared to oppose law enforcement officers.
In addition, gunfights also took place between armed separatist criminal groups and the TNI in Yambi District, Puncak Jaya Regency, Papua. Initially, the TNI Team from the Mulia District headed for the Yambi District in order to encourage logistics, when they arrived at the Babsbaga longsorang area, the TNI was interfered with from a high level of fire.
During a shootout, TNI troops tried to return fire and chase after a group of tens of people under the leadership of Lekagak Telenggen. Due to the severity of the terrain, the Lekagak Leadership Group, which numbered dozens of people, managed to escape into the forest scatteredly.
Furthermore, after the chase, the TNI forces cleared the area and found a number of items of evidence allegedly belonging to the group, including 2 long guns and ammunition, 2 command sticks allegedly belonging to Lekagak Telenggen, 2 stamps belonging to the National Liberation Army of the Free Papua Organization (TPN- OPM) and a number of other documents.
The incident also claimed the life of a TNI member, where Private Mukamu was shot in the left thigh. The victim who was also planning to be evacuated to Timika, Mimika Regency, had to be canceled due to weather constraints in the region. Pratu Mukamu died because of heavy bleeding. In addition to killing, OPM is also not reluctant to hold the public hostage to the police. As happened on August 12, 2019, the hostage of Brigadier Heidar which led to the death of the police officers was caused by the actions of an armed criminal group led by one of the senior OPM generals, namely Goliat Tabuni.
Goliath himself is not a new figure in the Papua conflict. He is already well-known for carrying out attacks on the authorities and often intimidating residents into supporting the OPM movement. Goliath is also a former member of Kelly Walik, who is responsible for a series of attacks on Freeport workers. Kwalik himself became famous in 1996 after holding 26 members of the Lorentz 95 Expedition in Mapenduma.
Kwalik also had a clash with Kopasus in the Mapenduma hostage release operation which was then led by Prabowo Subianto. In addition, Goliath is also known to be cruel towards indigenous Papuans. He did not hesitate to slaughter local indigenous people if he did not support the movement of his group in the name of Papuan independence.
He also claimed to have pocketed a number of Papuan names who became espionage of the TNI or Polri and threatened to hunt them down. Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD admitted the government needs to be aware of unexpected opinions ahead of the anniversary of the OPM Anniversary on December 1.
He said political propaganda could emerge ahead of the OPM anniversary. He made sure the government had prepared anticipatory steps. Mahfud said that security standards in Papua did not change. The security standard will be set for a number of parties, including the security forces.
The OPM has proven to be inconsistent with the ideology of Pancasila, they have proven brave enough to attack fellow Papuans simply because it is not in line with OPM’s thinking regarding liberation or referendum. The atrocities committed by the OPM have also gone too far, so the security forces need to take decisive action if the OPM returns to acting.
) * The writer is a Papuan student living in Yogyakarta
