Vice President Ma'ruf Hopes Sorong Clashes That Kill Dozens Of People Unsustainable

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Vice President, Ma'ruf Amin, hopes that the clashes between community groups in Sorong, West Papua, on Tuesday, January 25, will not lead to ongoing misunderstandings among the people.

"The vice president is concerned and moreover, there have been quite a number of fatalities. So, the vice president hopes that the security forces will be more alert, so that it doesn't happen on an ongoing basis," said the spokesman for the vice president, Masduki Baidlowi, in a statement in Jakarta, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, January 25.

Although the clashes between these groups are not based on ethnicity, religion, race and intergroup (SARA), Ma'ruf still feels concerned and hopes that security conditions in Papua will always be maintained.

"The vice president is concerned about the incident in Sorong, even though it was not a riot with a racial background, and the vice president has a responsibility for the Papua region to be prosperous and safe," he said.

Furthermore, Ma'ruf also asked the police to continue to coordinate with local religious leaders, religious leaders and traditional leaders to maintain security conditions in Papua.

"The vice president asked the police to continue to coordinate further with community leaders, religious leaders there, so that everything doesn't get misunderstood, so that everything can be handled properly," said Masduki.

Previously, it was reported that there was a clash at the Karaoke Double in Sorong which resulted in 18 deaths at the scene.

Head of the Public Relations Division of the Indonesian Police, Inspector General of Police, Dedi Prasetyo, said one person died in the clashes and 17 others died as a result of a fire inside the nightclub.

Based on the results of the investigation of the crime scene by the Sorong City Police Criminal Investigation Unit and the East Sorong Police Sector, it was reported that 17 bodies were found charred.