By: Moses Waker )*
KST Papua has continued to carry out a number of acts of attack and destruction. This clearly greatly hampered the development efforts pursued by the Government of Indonesia, especially during the era of President Joko Widodo’s leadership. Related to this, the security forces then prepared many appropriate steps and strategies so that they could immediately quell the group.
The Chief of Staff of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (KSAD), General Dudung Abdurachman said that the Papuan separatist and terrorist groups (KST) continued to carry out various kinds of very heinous and inhumane actions that often claimed lives, whether from civilians. innocent or from the security forces of the Republic of Indonesia (RI).
How could it not be, because when they are looking for food, they continue to carry out many acts of extortion against the community, and if their wishes are not obtained, KST Papua will not hesitate to attack fellow citizens of Cenderawasih Earth themselves.
These separatist and terrorist groups also often take advantage of village funds and continue to argue as if they want to advance and liberate Papua, but in fact what they do with a series of actions actually often attacks and also destroys the villages of their own siblings.
In fact, the majority of the people of Bumi Cenderawasih are people who really love the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) and only a small handful of Papuans provide support for the KST movement or those who act on behalf of the Free Papua Organization (OPM) movement, namely by only about 200 people.
In addition to extorting residents, it turns out that the separatist and terrorist groups are also targeting and utilizing the Papua Special Autonomy Fund (Otsus) that has been provided by the central government for development in Cenderawasih Land so that it can run optimally.
Actually, from the Papua Special Autonomy Fund, quite a number of development projects are continuing to be carried out in the Land of Papua to be able to advance and improve the welfare of all the people there. However, instead of helping the government’s efforts, they continued to damage and attack project workers in Indonesia’s easternmost province.
They continue to extort every project being carried out in Papua, then if their demands are not fulfilled, then the KST gang will not hesitate to attack the facilities or projects that are being worked on and they also do not least massacre construction project workers.
Meanwhile, there have been many acts of violence that have been carried out by them, and this is not the first time this has happened this year. It was recorded that from 2017 until 2023 alone, this group of separatist and terrorist groups had massacred 34 civilians and as many as 12 security forces.
It is very clear that all the crimes they committed were types of crimes against humanity which absolutely could not be justified in any name, especially those who were victims or objects of the massacre of KST Papua, in fact most of them were civilians, which in the law of war (humanitarian law) is strictly forbidden to attacked or fought.
Regarding this phenomenon, the Head of the University of Indonesia (UI) Terrorism Study Study Program, Muhammad Syauqillah, considers that the series of terror acts that continue to be carried out by KST Papua against the community has only added to the urgency of handling the problem amid the incessant infrastructure development that continues to be carried out by the government. in the era of the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to create equitable distribution of development in Indonesia by changing the Java-centric paradigm to become Indonesia-centric so that no particular region is experiencing rapid development, instead all development will be evenly distributed throughout the country.
Of course if it turns out that the disturbances continue to be perpetrated by gangs of separatist and terrorist groups, then there will obviously be obstacles to development in Papua. This is because all the terror acts that they continue to carry out are very far from the path of the development framework of Cenderawasih Earth.
Thus, the development that has been intensified by the government so far will become stalled, and even in the long term it will be able to have an impact on problems regarding the welfare of the Papuan people themselves because later road access from one area to another there will also be hampered.
Whereas on the other hand, the government has worked very hard to be able to provide security guarantees to the comfort of life for all people in Papua. However, all of this will obviously be greatly disrupted if KST Papua is not immediately annihilated using an appropriate and humane approach that involves a large number of relevant stakeholders.
The country’s development has been carried out by the Government of Indonesia since President Jokowi’s leadership, especially the strong commitment to continue to prioritize Papua so that it continues to experience significant development and progress in civilization will be greatly hampered if a number of acts of attacks and destruction continue to be carried out by KST Papua.
)* The author is a Papuan student living in Makassar
