Spokesperson For Vice President: Strengthening Densus 88 Is Important For Papua's Welfare

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for Vice President Ma'ruf Amin, Masduki Baidlowi, said the addition of the Special Detachment (Densus) 88 Anti-terror Police personnel is very important to the agenda of accelerating welfare in Papua.

"The vice president, who has a special task of accelerating welfare in Papua, requires a safe and stable atmosphere. So, strengthening Densus 88 is very important for the agenda for accelerating welfare in Papua," said Masduki Baidlowi in a statement quoted by Antara, Monday, February 21.

So far, the National Police's Anti-terror Detachment 88 has been proven to be effective in taking steps to prevent and take action related to the threat of terrorism, continued Masduki.

Therefore, he reminded that terrorism is not limited to movements based on radical religious understanding, but also movements based on dangerous separatism, such as what happened in Papua and West Papua.

Masduki emphasized that concerns about the strengthening of the Anti-terror Detachment 88 of the National Police could be anticipated by open public control.

"Everything can be monitored openly, delivered openly. We can together help Densus 88 to work professionally, including correcting when something goes wrong," he said.

Meanwhile, the National Police is reviewing the addition of personnel to strengthen the Police Anti-terror Detachment 88 as many as 1,500 to 2,000 personnel, to be placed in a number of Indonesian regions, including Papua and West Papua.