Police Remind Project Cultivators In Inland Papua To Coordinate With National Armed Forces/National Police

Illustration of members of the Indonesian National Police in Papua. (Antaranews)

PAPUA - The Papuan Regional Police reminded companies working on projects in the interior of Papua to provide security guarantees to their workers. The company was reminded to establish coordination with the Indonesian National Police(Polri)-National Armed Forces (TNI).

The Head of Public Relations of the Papuan Police, Commissioner Police AM Kamal, said that the potential for disturbances that often occurred in the interior of Papua came from the Armed Criminal Group (KKB).

"We hope that the whole community, especially the companies that carry out development in the interior, to communicate and coordinate with our colleagues in the region, whether it's the Resort Police, or even TNI colleagues," said Commissioner Kamal, Timika, Wednesday, March 9.

Kamal said that the KKB massacred government project workers, as happened to 28 workers at PT Istaka Karya who worked on the Trans Papua Road project in Nduga Regency in December 2018.

The latest, he continued, was the massacre of eight employees of PT Palapa Timur Telematika (PTT) who repaired Telkomsel's BTS 3 in Jenggeran Village, Beoga District, Puncak Regency on March 3, 2022. Kamal said these disturbances should be an important evaluation and learning for all parties.

"There have been several times the violence that has occurred in the Central Highlands of Papua has been carried out by KKB to employees. If you see strange things, please be careful and stay alert, communicate and coordinate with the relevant authorities," he added.

The difficult geographical conditions of the Central Highlands of Papua, coupled with the limited personnel of the security forces, both TNI and Polri, have made it impossible for employees working on government projects to be monitored continuously, especially if the location of the project being carried out is very far from the city center.

"For the BTS construction and repair project in the West Beoga District, the local government did not expect such an activity. The location where the tower was built is from the capital of Beoga District, if you draw a straight line it is only about 15 kilometers, but if you walk it can take three days and three nights," he said.

On that occasion, the Head of Public Relations of the Papua Police expressed his gratitude to all parties, both TNI and community members who had helped so that the bodies of eight PTT employees could be evacuated to Timika and subsequently sent to their respective hometowns for burial on Tuesday, March 8.

Previously, PT PTT Operations Director Eddy Siahaan said the East Palapa Ring project work handled by PT PTT was a national strategic program that started in 2017.

The company fully handed over the investigation and law enforcement against the perpetrators who had slaughtered the victims to the authorities.

"We completely leave the handling of this problem to law enforcement. We can only surrender to God to ask for the safety of the victims," he said.