JAYAPURA: Jayapura’s Cenderawasih University (Uncen) students affiliated with the Anti-militarism Students Alliance blocked access to the Uncen campus in Waena in Jayapura on Monday morning, disrupting lectures and administrative activities.
As a result, about 9,000 students could not attend lectures. Those arriving at the entrance were forced to turn back by hundreds of students blocking the road and prohibiting anyone from entering the campus.
“We oppose any military presence on campus. Students are afraid of being on their own campus,” said rally coordinator Yason Ngalia. He said that ever since the shooting of the head of the National Committee on Papua Independence in June, plainclothes military personnel were always on the campus. “Students feel afraid of the presence of authorities,” Yason asserted.
The students also rejected the planned construction of a joint Indonesian Military-National Police command post in Perumnas II near the campus.
Uncen assistant rector Paul Homers expressed regret over the blockade.
“The blockade has severely affected lectures. The students should have acted and thought smartly. They should have expressed their demands in a good manner and not harm the interests of others,” said Homers.