By: Toha Hidayat) *
The attacks carried out by the Free Papua Organization (OPM) against members of the military and civilians were increasingly blind. In the past one month a total of four TNI members died in the crossfire against the separatist organization.
A TNI member named Serda Miftachur Rohmat from Infantry Battalion 713 died after being confronted by armed groups in Bewan Baru, Yeti District, Keerom Regency, Papua, Tuesday (12/30/2019) afternoon. Previously, during a gun battle that took place in Intan Jaya Regency, Papua, on Tuesday (17/12), there were two TNI soldiers who were killed, First Lieutenant, Erizal Zuhri Sidabutar and Serda Rizky. And a few days later, a shootout was reported to have taken place again in Intan Jaya, precisely in the Ugimba District, Intan Jaya, Papua, which caused an army soldier on behalf of Serda M. Ramadhan to die from a gunshot wound to his cheek.
The attacks carried out by the group are inappropriate to be categorized as a criminal act as reported in several media which still refer to the group as the Armed Criminal Group (KKB).
Former Head of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), General TNI (Retired) AM Hendropriyono said that at this time we still regard them as KKB or armed criminal groups. Though they are rebels, so this problem is not only related to criminal activity.
Hendropriyono also requested that the government be more serious in handling the Papua problem. Especially in the case of international diplomacy, so that there is no support for the Papuan separatist movement. OPM should have entered the list of international terrorists, because he had killed innocent people and did not understand anything. Not only soldiers or police, ordinary people were also killed, it was an act that was clearly wrong.
The plan to make OPM an international terrorist has the support of Commission I of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI). Dave Laksono, Member of the House of Representatives Commission I, agrees with this.
The Golkar Wasekjen considered that the OPM had fulfilled the foundation to declare them to be international terrorists, moreover they were supported by foreign NGOs and organizations and it was proven that many of their activities were able to get assistance from foreign countries. They fought openly, they declared oppressed, human rights violations, even though the one who killed and robbed the community was the OPM itself. So according to him they should be included in the list of international terrorists.
Meanwhile, a member of the DPR’s Commission I from the PDIP faction, Charles Honoris supports the discourse, according to him if OPM is included in the list of international terrorists or categorized as a terrorist organization by the UN then their space will be very limited and the organization will have difficulty getting funding and all that is known as the organization’s assets will be frozen.
The same thing was also conveyed by one of the Members of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Faction, Abdul Kharis Almasyahri. He considered what the OPM was doing was an act of terrorism and a form of treason against a legitimate government. They can be called terrorists because they spread fear to people who have lived quietly. Even the people to the soldiers have become victims of OPM violence. In addition, they can be called treason because they have fought a legitimate state or government.
On the other hand, Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security Mahfud MD said the government would review A.M’s proposal. Hendropriyono said that the Free Papua Organization (OPM) would be established as an international terrorist group. According to him, Hendro had the capacity to submit the proposal. Mahfud said that Hendro’s proposal that OPM be declared a terrorist had been conveyed by Hendro when he visited the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs some time ago.
It is proper for OPM as a separatist group to be categorized as an international terrorist because the actions taken by these groups have been intolerable and have sacrificed the Indonesian people. Members of the military, police, workers, and indigenous Papuans also became victims of the group’s violence. So that human rights violations that have been voiced by the OPM against them are not true, but instead they are the ones who committed human rights violations against the people of Indonesia.
Therefore, the government must immediately crush OPM or other separatist movements which can be called international terrorists to ensure the safety of the Indonesian people in Papua. Because the separatist group is only a handful of people who have certain interests and are not comparable to the majority of Papuan people who want to be part of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia.
) * The writer is a political observer
