Violent conflicts in West Papua have increased drastically in recent months. The conflicts occurred continuously in various parts of West Papua before, during and after the general elections of Indonesian member of parliaments and the Indonesian presidential election. The same violent incident also occurred this month. We noted some factual incidents of terrors after the legislative general election such as a terror bomb installed at Tami river bridge Jayapura, the burning of the Cenderawasih University administration building, the burning of the Regional General Election Commission building, the stabbing of civilians in Perumnas I, II and III Waena Jayapura.  Besides, there are also some other terror issues such as the findings of bombs in several places, the burning of public places such as shops and supermarkets, the oil tank in Biak, several attacks in Jayapura, the stabbing of a motorbike rider in Wamena, the shooting and the burning of civilians in Kapeso Mamberamo, the shooting of civilians  committed by Indonesian military forces at the border of Papua New Guinea and the Republic of Indonesia, and other incidents that occurred before the Indonesian presidential election.
All of these incidents have been planned carefully and implemented by a highly organised and trained group. It is impossible that the civilians planted a bomb at Tami River Bridge which is 50 meters away from the Indonesian military post. The finding of a bomb beside Sumber Makmur store in Abepura and other incidents seemed to have occurred systematically and have been well organised. The accusation towards civilians as the actors of all the incidents is part of driving the issues away from the truth.

The impact of the above incidents has caused military operations in West Papua which have sacrificed many West Papua civilians. The Indonesian government has kept a total silence and seems to ignore or allow all the incidents to happen.
A recent shooting incident; Drew Nicholas Grant, an Australian national who worked for PT Freeport, was shot dead by unknown people at Mile-53 on Saturday (July 11 at 5.00am). Drew was with Mr Lucan Jhon Biggs (driver) and Maju Pandjaitan in a Toyota land Cruiser (reg.no: 01-2578). They were on their way from Tembagapura to Timika. The shooting incident could not be separated from the above incidents.

We regret the shooting of Mr Drew Nicholas Grant. We urge all parties to take this matter seriously. We hope that the military does not accuse any particular group as actor of the incident. It is better to have a depth investigation to reveal the actor and the reason behind the shooting of Mr Drew Nicholas Grant and other victims.

If no serious action is taken to reveal the actors of the incident then we fear that the violent conflicts would continue. There is a group that has systematically played with the security situation to turn it into a vertical and horizontal conflict in West Papua.

For the family of Mr Drew Nicholas Grant and the other Freeport worker victims, we, on behalf of all the people of West Papua would like to express our condolences and our appeal:

1. We express our deep condolences to the Family of Mr Drew Nicholas Grant and the people and government of Australia;

2. We urge the Australian government to send the Australian Federal Police to investigate the shooting of Mr Drew Grant;

3. We urge all the military forces and all parties to stop accusing civilians and OPM (Free Papua Movement), and National Freedom Fighters actors of the shooting incident;

4.We urge the Indonesian government especially the TNI commander in chief and the head of Indonesian state police to use persuasive and peaceful dialog to solve various kinds of violent conflicts that have occurred in West Papua;

5. We urge all the people of West Papua to keep West Papua as the land of peace.

Thank you all for your attention.
 
 
 
Yosepa Alomang Markus Haluk
Director (YAHAMAK) General Secretary (DPP-AMPTPI)