Three policemen, including Pirime sub-precinct police chief Second Insp. Rofli Takubesi, were shot dead early Tuesday by a group of unidentified assailants in Lanny Jaya regency, Papua.
The two other fatalities were identified as Brig. Jefri Rumkorem and First Brig. Daniel Makuker, while a third officer — Brig. Muhammad Gosali — managed to save himself.
After shooting the victims, the assailants burned the victims’ bodies along with the sub-precinct police station and stole three police rifles.
Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Tito
Karnavian flew to the incident site immediately after receiving word of
the attack. “I’ll check it,” Karnavian said shortly before his
departure to Wamena, from where he would be transported overland to
Pirime.
The Jakarta Post data shows that at least 10 security
officers have been shot dead so far this year by unknown assailants in
Papua.
National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Rafli Amar confirmed
the incident in Lanny Jaya, saying he did not yet know the motive of the
attack. Boy said in Jakarta that the attackers were believed to consist
of 10 people. Local police, with backup from the Indonesian Military
(TNI), were still hunting down the perpetrators, he added.
Papua
Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. I Gede Sumerta Jaya explained that the
four police officers were on guard at the sub-precinct police station at
the time of the attack. One of the three victims was found near a
flagpole. “Possibly he was about to raise the red and white flag,” he
said.
The rising frequency of violence in Papua, Indonesia’s
easternmost province, by armed civilian groups is believed to be a
reaction by local community members to the frustration of dealing with
hardships in the underdeveloped but resource-rich area.
“The
people are frustrated because there has been no significant progress in
their humble lives. They hear about the huge development funds channeled
from the central government, including those for special autonomy
status, but they never feel the impacts,” said Father John Jonga, a
Catholic priest at Hetuba Parish in Pegunungan Tengah.
People
were also fed up with local government officials because they were
rarely present amid their people, but spent most of their time in
Jakarta or other big cities, said Jonga, who received the Yap Thiam Hien
human rights award in 2010.
“In many talks with the local
people, they say they do not know who their regent is, their district
heads or their village heads,” Jonga said.
“I see regents and
other high-ranking officials do not have the heart to carry out
development. As soon as they are installed as officials, they forget
about what they have to do for their people,” he said.
Jonga
cited as examples how residents could not get adequate health services
and how schools had been abandoned by their teachers. “With the
situation never changing, the people become disappointed and express
their emotions with violence,” he said.