By: Sabby Kosay )*
Separatist groups such as OPM do not stop spreading terror, they even dare to attack the TNI when they are still at rest. Their cruelty has also given inconvenience to Papuans who want Papua and West Papua to remain part of the Republic of Indonesia.
OPM (Free Papua Organization) is indeed known as a cruel criminal organization, as is known on December 1, 2018 which is claimed as the day of independence for West Papua. The event was accompanied by a burning stone agenda with the local community. Because a PT Istaka Karya worker took a picture of the series of events, the Separatist Criminal Group then went to their base camp.
At that time the separatist group arrived at around 15:00 CET. With various sharp weapons and firearms, dozens of members of the group forced 25 PT Istaka Karya workers out of the base camp.
Next, they were led to Karunggame River in a bound hand condition. Until Sunday the workers are not released. Around 07.00 CET they were taken to the top of Bukit Kabo.
On the way from Kali Karunggame to Bukit Kabo, dozens of PT Istaka Karya workers were asked to walk squatting. That’s when OPM opened fire on them.
Some workers were shot dead on the spot, some pretended to be lying dead on the ground. A total of eleven PT Istaka Karya workers are pretending to be lifeless. However, five of them were caught when trying to run away. They were immediately attacked using sharp weapons.
OPM’s actions are clearly humanitarian crimes and OPM is not only an organization selling false hopes for Papuan welfare but also a criminal and terror group that must be immediately crushed by the state by using the TNI as its main player, because the TNI is equipped with guerrilla and anti-guerrilla capabilities as well as other war capabilities .
The group was worried because the central government had carried out infrastructure development to advance the Eastern Indonesia region especially Papua.
The thing that makes us sad is the recruitment of children to become soldiers is also carried out by the separatist group West Papua National Army. The recruitment of these children aims to fight the Indonesian Military. Such actions would have violated international conventions.
In the context of propaganda, TNPB has documented the formation of child soldiers. In one photo, we can see teenagers with black painted faces. They then wielded rifles complete with ammunition and wore military-style uniforms.
The photo was taken somewhere in the remote hills of West Papua in May. The photo was released by the TNPB group, a separatist group that has been fighting the Indonesian military and continues to proclaim West Papua’s independence.
They assumed that these children automatically became warriors and opponents of the Indonesian colonial military. It said, around 12 child soldiers aged between 15 and 18 years are currently fighting for their groups in various regions in Papua.
A senior lecturer at Auckland University specializing in terrorism and conflict in Indonesia, Chris Wilson, said that the use of child soldiers would extend the list of violence in Papua.
He also said, it would be difficult for them to be integrated into society once they were involved in the actual violence of that type of age. The presence of child soldiers can also complicate clashes for the Indonesian military, which are likely to be prevented from using “extraordinary powers” if they find out that children are in separatist ranks.
Meanwhile, the Armed Criminal Group in West Papua also launched an attack on the TNI during the Prayer Break. The attack finally killed a TNI soldier named Prada Usman Hambelo after being shot by a KKB in the Yuguru district.
The incident was very brief, where the attack was carried out with barrage shots that emerged from behind the bush in a hit and run. It is estimated that the perpetrators of the shootings amounted to 4-5 people.
TNI troops on guard at the time tried to retaliate and pursue. However, due to safety concerns, with the covered bush field and many steep ravines, the chase was stopped.
The cruelty, of course, cannot be tolerated, the Separatist Group only wants to create a false dream by launching an act of terror that is troubling the public. So there is no other choice to remain against anyone who wants to undermine the unity of Indonesia.
)* The writer is a Papuan student living in Yogyakarta