Papuan Police Chief 'Goes Down The Mountain' Prevents Yalimo Riots From Spreading To Tribal War

DOC ANTARA/ Papuan Police Chief Inspector General Mathius Fakhiri

JAYAPURA - Papua Police Chief, Inspector General Mathius Fakhiri, emphasized that his party needed special handling in the Yalimo case because it has the potential to become a tribal war.

This special handling needs to be done to avoid tribal wars, considering that the mass of candidate pair 01 Erdi Dabi-Jhon Wilil was disappointed and did not expect the results of the election dispute decision at the Constitutional Court.

"The actions of the supporters of candidate pair 01 were carried out spontaneously shortly after the Constitutional Court decided to disqualify the candidate so that the Papuan Police were careful in handling the case", said Inspector General Fakhiri, quoted by Antara, Thursday, July 1.

According to Fakhiri, from the report received initially, the supporters watched the trial in Elelim and after hearing the verdict, the masses immediately set fire to several government buildings and public facilities.

There were no casualties in the incident. The crowd also blocked the road to Wamena and burned the bridge but it was quickly extinguished.

"I have also met with candidate pair 01 and hope that they will help reduce the emotions of the supporters so that they do not take anarchic actions", said Inspector General Fakhiri, confirming that he would soon meet with candidate pair 02, namely the pair Lakius Peyon-Nahum Mabel.

There was a prediction error made by the Yalimo Police because the security forces previously believed that the Erdi Dabi-Jhon Wilil pair would win in the Constitutional Court so that there would be no overreaction from their supporters.

"The police chief believes that there will be no problems, so he returns the Operations Control Assistance (BKO) in Yalimo so that there is only 103 TNI/Police personnel in this district, 40 of whom are members of the Yalimo Police", said Inspector General Fakhiri.

Since, Wednesday, June 30, the Papuan Police has added Brimob troops to Elelim to help secure the area.

Shortly, the Police Head together with the Military Area Command XVII Cenderawasih will go to Elelim to meet directly with the community along with the candidate pairs.

The elections for Yalimo Regency were followed by two pairs of candidates for regent and deputy regent, namely the pairs of Erdi Dabi-Jhon Wilil and the pairs of Lakius Peyon-Nahum Mabel.