The Papuan people have the right to a safe and peaceful life without interference from Separatist Groups. Security issues in Papua are of course a special concern for the government. The government certainly needs to guarantee security for the Papuan people from all threats from the Papuan Separatist Terrorist Group (KST).
Masduki Baidlowi as Spokesperson for the Vice President said that Indonesian Vice President Ma’ruf Amin had asked law enforcement officials to continue to protect the people of Papua from various KST anarchic actions. KST really wants the Papuan people to be filled with anxiety, they commit murders and spread threats and insecurity. So that the Vice President Ma’ruf Amin also wants the people in Papua to work well.
According to Masduki, Vice President Ma’ruf Amin has explicitly asked the security forces to take legal action against KST because of its various crimes that have disturbed the community and disrupted development efforts in Papua. Apart from that, Ma’ruf Amin also emphasized that a territorial-based humanist approach should still be applied to address security issues in Papua.
Ma’ruf also wants the territorial approach from the top of the regional military command to the military command level to be carried out by all parties, both the TNI-Polri and the civil administration in Papua. This approach will of course make the Papuan people feel safe by the presence of the TNI-Polri who are committed to maintaining peace in Papua.
Security in Papua really needs to be maintained. One of Indonesia’s preventive steps is collaboration between the TNI and the District Government in Tambrauw. In anticipation of the unexpected, the Tambrauw Regency Government collaborated with the Tambrauw Police and the 1810/Tambrauw Military District Command to maintain security in every Tambrauw area. Moreover, the Tambrauw Regency area is very wide, so it requires the collaboration of the patrol team to increase the sense of security for the community after the arrest of 19 KNPB members.
This made the Polres deploy 75 personnel and add each Polsek in the Tambrauw area and the TNI for routine patrols to every district and village. These routine patrols do not aim to give fear to the community, but as an effort to ensure that the community and all development activities in the Tambrauw area can run safely and normally as they should.
Meanwhile, the Papuan people also expressed their appreciation for all the efforts that had been made by the Government of Indonesia and the combined security forces to protect the people of Papua. It should be noted that on August 5, 2023, the location of the KST Papua headquarters was found and immediately attacked by security forces to eradicate these irresponsible elements.
The security forces took decisive action by storming the KST Papua headquarters in Yakuhimo Regency, Papua, Highlands on Tuesday, August 1, 2023. The aftermath of this ambush was also one of the responses to the attack on the Paradiso Brimob post. The attack on the Paradiso Brimob post led to shots allegedly coming from a Papuan KST member with the initials AS after being investigated by the Cartenz Damai Task Force.
Papua Police Chief Mathius D Fahiri confirmed that as a result of the raid, two Papuan KST members were killed. Indeed, there was resistance that ended in the death of two KST members and injuring one Brimob member, Bharatu, Jogianus Ricko, who received a gunshot wound to the left thigh.
Several pieces of evidence were also found at the scene, including six firearms, ammunition and other evidence that had been secured by the security forces. Knowing this, of course the people in the Highlands of Papua can feel a little relieved because little by little the Papuan KST is starting to falter and be eradicated by the security forces.
It is fitting that what is being done is appreciated, because for a long time KST Papua has really disturbed the peace and tranquility of the people of Highlands Papua, especially when the pilot Susi Air was taken hostage some time ago. So that KST should have been eradicated, this is because the people of Papua are very uneasy about the various acts of KST both towards Indigenous Papuans and future people working in Papua.
KST has left a bad mark on the Papuan people, they have killed civilians and also damaged public facilities in Papua, even though the Papuan people really need these public facilities, such as health centers and schools. Of course, what KST has done clearly violates Human Rights, but it’s not that easy in terms of repaying all the actions of KST Papua who have committed various atrocities and disturbances.
Of course there needs to be a special strategy that is carefully designed so that during the eradication of KST it does not involve civilians to fight back. This strategy was implemented so that not many civilians were injured.
Security for the Papuan people certainly needs to be fought for, because after all the Papuan people have the right to a safe life without any threats from KST or from groups that want to break up the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.
