Police in Papua have moved quickly to arrest three suspects in a bow and arrow attack on the head of their criminal intelligence unit in Nimbokrang subdistrict.
“TT, YT, JCT have been named suspects and detained,” National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution said on Friday, adding that four people witnessed the attack. “We want to know their motives.”
Second Brig. Ridwan Napitupulu and his colleague, Second Brig. Dian Budi Santoso, were out on patrol for signs of the banned Morning Star flag in the early hours of Thursday, the 50th anniversary of the outlawed state of West Papua, when an unidentified group attacked them with arrows. Budi escaped, but the assailants caught Ridwan and beat him.
Doctors removed an arrow from Ridwan’s thigh and he is now in critical but stable condition at Bhayangkara Police Hospital in Sentani.
It is not known if the assailants were associated with the Free Papua Organization (OPM), which raised the Morning Star flag on Thursday.
“We don’t know yet, but we are trying to confirm it,” Saud said. “Clearly they attacked our members.”
National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo said a police team was looking for more assailants.
The three suspects were arrested near the site of the attack, and police are questioning them at the Sentani subdistrict police station, said Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Wachyono.
He added that police had arrested the suspects based on information from Budi, who had already escaped the attack.
Meanwhile, the Mimika district police force has released five residents who were arrested after a group of Papuans tried to raise the pro-independence Morning Star flag at Timika Indah field on Thursday.
The five released residents are Arianus Magai, Mesak Dibitau, Yulianus Pekei, Larius Dolame and Norbertus Timang, said Brig. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw, the Papua Police deputy chief.
He said the police let them go because they lacked evidence against them, but he added that the residents must still report to authorities twice a week, every Monday and Thursday.
“For the time being we’re releasing these five residents because there is not enough evidence to show they were involved in raising the Morning Star flag at Timika Indah field yesterday,” Waterpauw said.
He said it was illegal to raise the flag, adding that permits issued for the anniversary celebration only allowed for prayers and other worship activities.
Police will continue to investigate the incident, he said.
According to Markus Haluk, a member of the Papuan Customary Council who spoke to the Jakarta Globe earlier from Sentani, state forces reportedly shot four civilians on Thursday at Timika Indah field in an attempt to disband the rally. Police in the province have denied the claims.
The head of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), Lt. Gen. Marciano Norman, was quoted by Antara news agency as saying that despite the “dynamism” that followed the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the state of West Papua, conditions in the two easternmost provinces remain “relatively under control.”
“There was a little dynamism, but all of that proceeded within the fair limits and were under control,” he said.
He said the incidents that took place in Papua on Thursday had been anticipated and settled.
Teriyomus Yoku, president of the West Papua National Authority Congress, said he hoped the Unit for the Acceleration of Development in Papua and West Papua (UP4B) would be able to resolve the problems besetting Papua and West Papua, Antara reported.
“The UP4B should constitute a good answer, by embracing the Papuan people for development,” he said in a private discussion on development in the province.
He said development efforts had not proceeded smoothly because officials had failed to consider customary and religious elements in the province.
Teriyomus also called on the government to uphold the law and to “arrest and try those who engage in corruption.”
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono created the UP4B unit to coordinate and oversee the acceleration of development efforts in the provinces of Papua and West Papua.