By: Ahlan Perdana) *
The government calls on all parties to be aware of the provocation that might be raised at the commemoration of the Free Papua Organization (OPM). The anniversary of the separatist group fell on 1 December. The Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD said the political issues related to the OPM Anniversary were of mutual concern. It is also important to anticipate that the issue will not cause unrest in Bumi Cenderawasih.
“If the security issue is the standard that is done. If the political aspect sometimes builds opinions that are not unexpected, unexpectedly suddenly the real opinion appears on the ground is not there,” said Mahfud. Mahfud stressed that the government still anticipates all of these issues. The security forces have a strategy and will carry out a security approach according to standard operating procedures (SOP). Every violator of the law will be prosecuted, including if carried out internally by the authorities.
The public is urged to be aware of the various maneuvers to be carried out by OPM ahead of December 1 2019. Given the previous year’s monitoring, the group often causes chaos and disturbs security stability on every December 1. In addition, various series of riots that occurred in Papua some time ago were also sourced from the massive circulation of hoaxes and provocation on social media. This provoked riots which crippled various community activities.
The massive use of social media as a source of information is used by the OPM group to carry out the mission of separatism. Therefore, the spirit of literacy and confirmation of every news received needs to be done so as not to be consumed by issues that are detrimental to the common interest. In August 2019, the government had restricted the internet in Papua to stem OPM provocation so that security conditions in Papua would soon recover.
Previously, Minister of Communication and Information Johnny Gerard Plate ensured that there were no plans to restrict internet access in anticipation of this year’s OPM anniversary. “Nothing. Is there a disorder? I can’t talk about the possibility. Under normal circumstances, there are no restrictions,” he said.
According to him, the step to restrict internet access is only done at certain times, namely civil disorder, potential chaos, or other things that endanger the country’s sovereignty, such as hoaxes and provocation.
Internet restrictions, Johnny added, can also be done when there is civil disobedience, for example the misuse of social media for the circulation of narcotics, pornography, and riots that threaten national stability.
- The writer is an activist of Forumliterasi.org
