The remains of Petrus Ayamiseba, 36, a PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) worker who was shot dead on Oct. 10 during a clash with the police at the Gorong-Gorong bus terminal in Timika, Papua, was buried at the Christian cemetery on Jl. Cenderawasih, Timika, on Thursday.
Ayamiseba was buried only after provincial and regency councilors ensured his relatives in a meeting that the shooting would be thoroughly investigated.
“After the meeting, an agreement was reached to form an investigative team to probe the case thoroughly and Ayamiseba’s relatives then decided to go ahead with the funeral,” PTFI SPSI labor union spokesman Juli Parororongan told The Jakarta Post by phone.
Meanwhile, the Mimika regency council has invited a number of relevant parties to a meeting on Friday to discuss the shooting and the strike by PTFI workers.
After PTFI’s management and employees reached a deadlock over demands for a salary increase, Juli said his union was willing to return to the negotiating table, and SPSI had planned to lower the salary demand from US$17.50 to $7.50 per hour.
“This is only talk and has not been officially discussed, but we have faith that everything will return to normal,” said Juli.
Doctors at the Timika mayoralty hospital conducted an autopsy on Ayamiseba’s body earlier on Thursday.
Previously, Ayamiseba’s body was laid out at the Mimika regency council office waiting for accountability from relevant parties.
“After authorities approached the family, they eventually took the body from the regency council office to the Timika mayoralty hospital for an autopsy, the results of which have not been released,” said Mimika Police deputy chief Comr. Made Indra Laksanta.
According to Indra, the current situation in Timika has returned to normal and residents are going about their daily activities, although a crowd, including Ayamiseba’s colleagues and relatives, is milling about the Mimika regency council office waiting to hear the outcome of the investigation.
Besides Ayamiseba’s death, scores of others were injured in the clash at the Gorong-Gorong bus terminal on Oct. 10. A Mobile Brigade officer, First Brig. Jamil, was critically injured and was referred to a hospital in Jakarta on Tuesday.
“His condition has improved after getting treatment there,” said Indra.
The PTFI management said it had suspended around 300 workers, 60 of them office workers taking part in the strike, which started on Sept. 15 and still continues.
PTFI president director and CEO Armando Mahler said in Timika on Thursday that the management had suspended hundreds of workers because they had been involved in acts of intimidation against workers who continued to work throughout the strike.
“Many of our employees were intimidated and scared. They fled from their barracks to hide. Some of those who kept working were threatened that their homes would be burned. We suspended those responsible,” said Mahler as quoted by Antara.
He added that the extent of offenses committed by the suspended workers would be investigated after the strike ended and operations returned to normal.
PTFI executive vice president and chief administrative officer Sinta Sirait said the decision to suspend the hundreds of workers and summon striking production staff was in accordance with a joint agreement and Industrial Relations Manual agreed upon by SPSI.
Sinta urged every party to respect the agreement to prove that it was not mere lip service.