BY : Alfred Jigibalom )*
The Papuan Separatist Terrorist Group (KST) is increasingly cunning by using its many machinations to carry out their acts of cruelty. They use children and women as shields to carry out their unreasonable ideological thoughts and carry out various attacks and brutal acts that can harm society, especially innocent civilians.
The use of women and children as shields violates the norm as human beings, because women and children should be looked after and protected, not used as shields for their own interests.
Various efforts were made by a combination of the Indonesian security forces, TNI, Polri, and the Republic of Indonesia’s State Intelligence Agency (BIN) to eradicate KST Papua for various kinds of actions that had crossed the line. This group attacked and killed TNI soldiers who were on a mission to find Susi Air pilot Capt Philip Mark Merthens in Nduga, Papua Mountains. Even worse, innocent and ignorant civilians were not spared from the brutal KST attack.
It is not easy to eradicate KST Papua, which is also armed and has a strong ideology, because KST has a lot of tricks to carry out this cruel action. The Head of the TNI Information Center (Kapuspen) Rear Admiral Julius Widjojono revealed that currently they are using a new strategy by using women and children as shields, while the adults behind serve as shooters. The shield was used to slash the soldiers, some of the KST members used machetes to attack the soldiers.
Meanwhile, on the same occasion, the Army Chief of Staff (KSAD) General Dudung Abdurachman said that this group led by Egianus Kogoya was looking for food by blackmailing them like thugs, if their wishes were not fulfilled they would attack, even fellow Papuans themselves. Village funds that are used for the benefit of the village are actually misused to attack and destroy the settlements of their relatives under the pretext of wanting to advance Papua. Apart from that, KST Papua is also targeting the Papua Special Autonomy Fund which will be used to build the Cendrawasih Land. They took advantage of the development projects that were used to advance the Eastern Region of Indonesia by attacking project workers and destroying them.
It is not impossible to eradicate KST Papua, but it is also not possible to act carelessly without thinking carefully. This is because, in addition to eradicating this brutal KST Papua gang, the security forces must also pay attention to the safety of the residents, especially currently the women and children who are their shields. General Dudung acknowledged that apart from these factors, other factors were becoming obstacles, namely demographic factors and geographical conditions, KST Papua knew very well the terrain of their territory, the TNI-Polri must also be careful so that there were no casualties from the community.
Responding to this problem, the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD agreed that in order to eradicate KST Papua, a mature strategy had to be prepared. He also said that there were two difficulties in eradicating Papua KST. First, one hostage is used as a living shield, then if we move the death threat appears. It’s not difficult if you just exterminate the heartless mob, but there are indeed many factors on the ground that test the soldiers in this rescue mission. He also added that we must be patient and wait for the government’s steps, which are currently preparing steps to rescue, guarantee the safety of hostages, and of course innocent civilians can also be protected and not become victims.
There have been many victims during the Susi Air pilot hostage rescue mission. The joint team of TNI-Polri security forces again found 4 soldiers who died as a result of actions from KST Papua in Nduga, Papua Mountains. In this case, TNI Rear Admiral Julius Widjojono conveyed directly through his statement that the four soldiers were found dead, including First Class Miftahul Arifin, Yonif R 321/GT Task Force in Mugi-Mam Nduga, First Class A, First Class I, First Class K, and Prada S.
Cunning cannot be repaid with attacks, the government needs a lot of effort to be made when KST Papua uses children and women as shields to keep them alive. Of course this violates customary norms, where women must be upheld and protected. Therefore, patience and a special strategy are needed to quell this heinous KST Papua. Thus, this KST Papua action that attacks each other with the TNI-Polri must be stopped and cannot continue. There have been many casualties, and don’t let any victims fall again. For the next steps, government agencies are expected to immediately complete the KST Papua crackdown with various efforts and tactics which are of course safe, so that there are no innocent victims in the incident,
)* The author is a Papuan student living in Bali
