April 2, Online
A team of police and Indonesian Military (TNI) are guarding the vicinity of Wiantre village in Arso Lima, Papua regency of Keerom, on Saturday after a hinterland tribe attacked and destroyed houses belonging to newcomers living in the area.
Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Wachyono said the attack happened at around 1:00 p.m. on Friday, leaving 13 houses badly damaged and one burned down.
“Security officers are still on guard around the crime scene,” Wachyono said on Saturday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.
“The villagers have fled to their families’ houses in other places,” he added.
The attack, Wachyono said, was triggered after the remains of 17-year-old Erlin Wenda were found on land that belonged to one of the villagers. Erlin’s family suspected the land owner of killing her.
“A mass of people from one of the tribes inhabiting Papua’s central mountain range then immediately attacked the area [Wiantre village].”
Local church leader Pastor Johanes Jonga said the situation around the village was still “horrifying” despite the security guards, with practically all the villagers either staying in their homes or having fled to
other villages.
Your comments:
We will never solve problems in Papua as long as the central government has no goodwill in solving it. I think the central government and Papuan government must carry out a dialogue to decide a way out and touch deeper to core problems such as Human rights issues.
Melanie
Papua
West Papuans have been under Indonesian rule for 49 years (1963-2011), experiencing many worse things from Indonesian Military and police. They also learned that rule of law does not work well in Indonesia.
People can make their own judgment or decision to kill Ahmadis or anybody, or destroy houses of
worship or other facilities without proper trial.
What happened in this village is an actualization of what West Papuans have learned from Indonesians, so please do not blame them. Put blame on yourself as an Indonesian.
Honestly speaking, West Papua is the richest province in Indonesia in natural resources, but the poorest province in Indonesia in terms of people’s welfare and education because of rampant corruption among the authorities.
Izak Morin
Jayapura
I have seen many TV programs about tribes of Papua or West Irian.
Many of them still are not well developed in the way of thinking and way of life.
The problem of accepting newcomers living in their area may be solved only by educating the tribes so they can know that they are not alone on this planet Earth or in West Irian.
Widya Utama
Bergen, Norway