Page 1 of 4 1234 LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 95
  1. #1
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    Chiang Mai
    Posts
    48,105

    Indonesian police say 32 dead, 1 missing in Papua attacks

    JAYAPURA, Indonesia (AP) — Security forces tried to recover the bodies of 31 construction workers and a soldier who were killed in one of the worst separatist attacks in Indonesia’s restive province of Papua, officials said Tuesday.


    Papua police spokesman Suryadi Diaz said 24 workers were killed Sunday when gunmen stormed a government bridge construction project in a remote mountainous village in Nduga district.

    Eight other workers fled to the nearby house of a local parliament member, but an armed group came a day later and killed seven of them, Diaz said, citing reports from several witnesses. The eighth managed to escape and remains missing.

    “This is the worst attack launched by the armed criminal group recently amid intensified development by the government,” Diaz told The Associated Press.

    Indonesia’s government, which for decades had a policy of sending Javanese and other Indonesians to settle in Papua, is now trying to spur economic development to dampen the separatist movement.

    Diaz said security forces were trying to recover all 31 bodies but they were scattered and guarded by gunmen in the district, a stronghold of separatists who have battled Indonesian rule in the impoverished region for nearly 50 years.

    Separately, Papua province military spokesman Lt. Col. Dax Sianturi said an armed group attacked a military post in Mbua village in the same district late Monday, killing a soldier and injuring another.

    Basuki Hadimuljono, the minister of public works and people’s housing, told reporters in Jakarta on Tuesday that the victims were among dozens of construction workers from Sulawesi island who have been employed by PT. Istaka Karya, a state-owned construction company, to build bridges along a 278-kilometer (174-mile) road project connecting the cities of Wamena and Agats.

    The workers are considered outsiders by the separatists.


    Hadimuljono said work on all 35 bridges had been halted and would resume when security returns to normal.


    Diaz said a number of motorcycle taxi drivers who were migrants from Java and other Indonesian islands also died recently in attacks by suspected separatists who viewed them as outsiders.


    Papua, a former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea, was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a U.N.-sponsored ballot that was seen as a sham by many. A small, poorly armed separatist group has been battling for independence since then.


    The low-level insurgency has plagued the mineral-rich region, which is ethnically and culturally distinct from much of Indonesia.


    Police said a witness had provided information that a worker had photographed a group of people attending a ceremony marking Dec. 1, which many Papuans consider the anniversary of what should have been their independence. A declaration of independence from Dutch rule on Dec. 1, 1961, was rejected by the Dutch and later by Indonesia.


    Commemorating the day is prohibited in Indonesia, and the witness said the photography caused anger and could have triggered the attack. However, Diaz said it was unclear whether there was a connection.




    https://apnews.com/a24fcacd796545a09b62fb47321cf82e

  2. #2
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    Chiang Mai
    Posts
    48,105
    Indonesia: r Separatist Rebels Claim Killings of 20 Construction Workers

    A separatist group claimed responsibility Wednesday for attacks that left at least 20 people dead in Indonesia’s eastern Papua province, alleging that the people they killed were soldiers disguised as construction workers.


    The attacks at the weekend and on Monday in the Mbua area of Nduga regency were led by the Egianus Kogoya, the local leader of the West Papuan National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the insurgent group’s spokesman Sebby Sembom said.


    The fatalities were soldiers under the Indonesian Army’s Combat Engineering Detachment (Denzipur) who had enlisted to build roads and bridges in the area, Sebby told BenarNews in a phone interview.


    “It was a gunfight, not an execution. TPNPB has long been monitoring workers in Kali Awarok and Kali Yigi [districts]. They were members of Denzipur, not civilian workers,” Sebby said, without elaborating.


    “All leaders and soldiers of the TPNPB National Command have a code of ethics in the revolutionary war. We will not fight against civilians,” he said.


    Gen. Tito Karnavian, the Indonesian national police chief, told reporters in Jakarta that 19 construction workers and a soldier were killed.


    Police in Papua had earlier said that rebels killed 31 workers who were building roads and bridges as part of the Trans-Papua highway project – part of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s efforts to improve infrastructure in the province, where road access is limited due to jungle-clad terrain.


    Authorities did not explain what caused the discrepancy in the reported number of fatalities.



    Reinforcements


    The Papua military garrison has sent soldiers as reinforcements to support the local police. Military officials told reporters they believed that 20 rebels were involved in the attacks.


    “The TNI soldiers were already in Wamena after being flown from Sentani on a Hercules plane,” Maj. Gen. Joshua Sembiring, the Papuan military commander, told reporters.


    At least 169 soldiers and police had been sent earlier to Nduga to retrieve the bodies of the dead and hunt for the suspects behind what police had described as the worst attack launched by an armed group in Indonesia in recent years.


    As of Wednesday, however, attempts to collect the bodies were not successful due to difficult terrain and bad weather, police and military officials said.


    On Tuesday, Col. Muhammad Aidi, a military spokesman, said security forces had rescued 12 people from Mbua, including three employees of the state-owned construction company PT Istaka Karya who suffered gunshot wounds.



    Jokowi's statement


    In Jakarta, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said he had ordered the military and the police to hunt those responsible for the “barbaric attacks.”


    “I emphasize that there is no place for armed criminal groups in Papua and throughout the country,” he said during a news conference at the State Palace on Wednesday.


    Former Gen. Moeldoko, the presidential chief of staff, called the killings an act of terrorism by the Free Papua Movement (OPM), which has fought for the mainly Melanesian region’s independence since the 1960s. The TPNPB is the OPM’s armed wing.


    Despite the attacks, Moeldoko said security forces should not take disproportionate actions.


    “Please act professionally and proportionally. Don’t get tempted to act in revenge,” he said.


    Widodo said that the construction of the 4,600-kilometer (2,875-mile) Trans-Papua road would continue.


    “We also will never be afraid. And this makes our determination even stronger to continue our great task of developing the land of Papua,” he said.


    However, construction work on the Trans-Papua road in Nduga has been suspended pending a review on security measures, said the head of Jayapura's XVIII National Road Implementation Center, Osman Marbun.


    “We are suspending the construction of the bridges, but other development activities elsewhere in Papua are still running, according to schedule,” he said.






    Human rights


    Meanwhile, Ahmad Taufan Damanik, chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM), urged the authorities to resolve the case according to the rule of law and human rights principles.


    “The government needs to make prevention efforts by involving various institutions and communities so that such events will not happen again,” Ahmad Taufan told reporters.


    Papua, located at the far eastern end of the Indonesia, is one of the archipelago’s poorest regions despite its rich natural resources. The area where the violence took place was at about 1,500 meters (about 5,000 feet) above sea level.


    Human rights groups have accused security forces of committing rights abuses during counter-insurgency operations.


    Foreign journalists have been largely banned from reporting from Papua, with the government citing concerns for their security for the restrictions.


    https://www.benarnews.org/english/ne...018144638.html

  3. #3
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Last Online
    Today @ 12:36 PM
    Location
    Sanur
    Posts
    8,004
    So terrorists murdering construction workers attracts no criticism from human right advocates?

    Seems a bit one sided to me.

  4. #4
    I am in Jail

    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Last Online
    12-10-2022 @ 03:00 PM
    Location
    Earth
    Posts
    1,486
    Quote Originally Posted by Switch View Post
    So terrorists murdering construction workers attracts no criticism from human right advocates?

    Seems a bit one sided to me.
    Perhaps if you were better informed, regarding the historical facts, then maybe you'd have a reversed opinion, as to whom the real "terrorists" are...eh?

  5. #5
    Member
    moose65's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Last Online
    Today @ 03:03 PM
    Location
    by the seaside.
    Posts
    396
    I spent some time in PNG and the political climate is ........... "Interesting"

  6. #6
    I am in Jail

    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Last Online
    12-10-2022 @ 03:00 PM
    Location
    Earth
    Posts
    1,486
    Quote Originally Posted by moose65 View Post
    I spent some time in PNG and the political climate is ........... "Interesting"
    on both of your opinions. Plus, PNG is "strangely" akin to being Out of Africa,..100 years ago.
    Last edited by TuskegeeBen; 06-12-2018 at 10:23 PM.

  7. #7
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Last Online
    Today @ 12:36 PM
    Location
    Sanur
    Posts
    8,004
    Fool off Ben. Unlawful killing is still unlawful. Whatever the history, it should be resolved by peaceful diplomatic means.

  8. #8
    I am in Jail

    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Last Online
    12-10-2022 @ 03:00 PM
    Location
    Earth
    Posts
    1,486
    Quote Originally Posted by Switch View Post
    Fool off Ben. Unlawful killing is still unlawful. Whatever the history, it should be resolved by peaceful diplomatic means.
    Wow! Are there any real "academic" debaters, on any of these platforms?

    I'm not looking to fight with you Switch, but which planet Earth,...are "you" living on,..sir? Huh?

    FYI ~ The "shoulds" don't count,...and never shall. Human history confirms that fact.
    Last edited by TuskegeeBen; 07-12-2018 at 12:14 AM.

  9. #9
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Last Online
    Today @ 12:36 PM
    Location
    Sanur
    Posts
    8,004
    Quote Originally Posted by TuskegeeBen View Post
    Wow! Are there any real "academic" debaters, on any of these platforms?

    I'm not looking to fight with you Switch, but which planet Earth,...are "you" living on,..sir? Huh?

    FYI ~ The "shoulds" don't count,...and never shall. Human history confirms that fact.
    I see you prefer to bury the problem with bullshit facts, rather than accept the notion of a civilized solution.
    Of course you don’t want to debate the issue. You will always lose out to pragmatism.

  10. #10
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    15,541
    Quote Originally Posted by Switch View Post
    Fool off Ben. Unlawful killing is still unlawful. Whatever the history, it should be resolved by peaceful diplomatic means.
    No. It's the same situation as in Isreal/Palestine. Non-natives come in and take over the land and resources then create laws to protect themselves in their conquest of indigenous lands. The West Papuans are definitely freedom fighters, not terrorists. Branding them terrorists is playing to the opressor's agenda.
    Ben is right in this.
    Look at the first crime, the major one, first.

  11. #11
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Last Online
    Today @ 12:36 PM
    Location
    Sanur
    Posts
    8,004
    Quote Originally Posted by Maanaam View Post
    No. It's the same situation as in Isreal/Palestine. Non-natives come in and take over the land and resources then create laws to protect themselves in their conquest of indigenous lands. The West Papuans are definitely freedom fighters, not terrorists. Branding them terrorists is playing to the opressor's agenda.
    Ben is right in this.
    Look at the first crime, the major one, first.
    You are wrong. Territorial disputes can never be settled by war or unlawful killing. Resort to terror tactics and you have lost the initiative, as well as the moral high ground.
    Does the death of workers not disturb you at all?

  12. #12
    I am in Jail

    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Last Online
    12-10-2022 @ 03:00 PM
    Location
    Earth
    Posts
    1,486
    Quote Originally Posted by Switch View Post
    You are wrong. Territorial disputes can never be settled by war or unlawful killing. Resort to terror tactics and you have lost the initiative, as well as the moral high ground.
    Does the death of workers not disturb you at all?
    I know it ALL ^. Thus, it's impossible for ME,...the Switch,...two be wrong,..about anything . GROW_UP^

  13. #13
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    96,565
    Quote Originally Posted by Switch View Post
    You are wrong. Territorial disputes can never be settled by war or unlawful killing.
    Should have told Adolf Hitler that.

  14. #14
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    15,541
    Quote Originally Posted by Switch View Post
    You are wrong. Territorial disputes can never be settled by war or unlawful killing. Resort to terror tactics and you have lost the initiative, as well as the moral high ground.
    Does the death of workers not disturb you at all?
    My main point was your stance of "rule of law". And just like the situation in Israel, the interlopers come in, make a claim, and establish their own laws, and when the indigenes react, the natives are accused of breaking the law! Ludicrous to suggest the West Papuans can use Indonesian law to get justice. Absurd to suggest West Papuans can fight legal battles with Indonesia in any court, ICC included.
    How did using Chinese law against Chinese occupation work out for Tibetans? How has it gone for Southern Thai Malays?
    Sometimes you have to fight.

  15. #15
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Last Online
    Today @ 12:36 PM
    Location
    Sanur
    Posts
    8,004
    Quote Originally Posted by Maanaam View Post
    My main point was your stance of "rule of law". And just like the situation in Israel, the interlopers come in, make a claim, and establish their own laws, and when the indigenes react, the natives are accused of breaking the law! Ludicrous to suggest the West Papuans can use Indonesian law to get justice. Absurd to suggest West Papuans can fight legal battles with Indonesia in any court, ICC included.
    How did using Chinese law against Chinese occupation work out for Tibetans? How has it gone for Southern Thai Malays?
    Sometimes you have to fight.
    Is the situation in PNG between two opposing religious standpoints?

    Harry just proved my point. The human losses just keep mounting up. It doesn’t matter if there are religious differences. Even after the Good Friday agreement, Ireland is riven with turmoil and killings. That one is centuries old too.
    The same principle applies. No group is entitled to act independently of a moral code. Without the rule of law, all you have is anarchy.

  16. #16
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    15,541
    I never mentioned religion, only land usurpers vs freedom fighters.
    So Harry proved your point that the West Papuans should go to court and use the law to sort things out? I missed the proof, sorry. Whooshed over my head. Please explain.

  17. #17
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Last Online
    Today @ 12:36 PM
    Location
    Sanur
    Posts
    8,004
    The Israel Palestine issue that you referred to is a highly charged religious land dispute, started by the British.

    That is why I asked if png was a religious dispute. Your comparison, not mine.

    You explain yourself instead of asking someone to hold your history books, while you figure it out.

    Harry referred to a genocidal dictator who caused millions of deaths in another pointless and unlawful war.

    Just add another 32 to the list of deaths that you are happy to accept because .... fuck it, work it out for yourself.

  18. #18
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    15,541
    Quote Originally Posted by Switch View Post
    The Israel Palestine issue that you referred to is a highly charged religious land dispute
    No, it's a simple case of Europeans landing there in 1945 and saying it's theirs.
    Quote Originally Posted by Switch View Post
    Your comparison, not mine.
    My comparison had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with appropriated land.
    Quote Originally Posted by Switch View Post
    Harry referred to...
    ...a guy that tried to settle a territorial dispute by war.
    Quote Originally Posted by Switch View Post
    Just add another 32 to the list of deaths that you are happy to accept
    I don't know where you get that I'm happy. The irony here is that the dead are probably Muslim, something that usually makes you happy.

  19. #19
    I am in Jail

    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Last Online
    12-10-2022 @ 03:00 PM
    Location
    Earth
    Posts
    1,486
    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    Should have told Adolf Hitler that.
    Mixing Apples w/ Oranges ^ again, eh? STFU for once,.....^ stupido...Thank you.

  20. #20
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    Chiang Mai
    Posts
    48,105
    Indonesian Troops, Papuan Rebels Clash

    Suspected insurgents fired at security forces in Papua who were retrieving bodies of 16 slain construction workers, the military said Thursday, while a rebel spokesman confirmed that they took casualties in launching one of the bloodiest attacks in the province.


    Soldiers traded shots with the guerrillas, but were unsure if there were injuries on the rebel side during the gunfight that took place Wednesday on Puncak Kabo hill in Nduga regency, local military commander Col. Jonathan Binsar P. Sianipar said.


    “When we were moving 16 bodies to the helicopter landing site, we were fired on by the separatist group,” Sianipar said in a statement issued by the military’s regional command.


    Government forces did not suffer injuries, Sianipar said.


    In addition, Puncak Kabo’s thick forest and rough terrain hampered attempts to remove the bodies, he said.


    On Wednesday afternoon, soldiers and police managed to reach Puncak Kabo, where workers who were building roads and bridges were killed over the weekend, the military said.


    All the bodies were recovered later in the evening despite difficulties faced by the security forces, regional military chief Maj. Gen. Yosua Pandit Sembiring told reporters.


    A search was ongoing for several people still missing, he said. Police earlier said that 31 workers and a soldier were killed, but military officials on Thursday were still trying to verify what caused the discrepancy in casualty figures.



    Biggest attack


    The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), has claimed responsibility for the killings, alleging that the people they killed were soldiers from the military’s engineering detachment, and not civilian workers.


    Officials said the attack was the worst carried out by separatist rebels in the last 10 years in Papua, located at the far eastern end of Indonesia and one of the archipelago’s poorest regions despite its rich natural resources.


    Eleven civilians and 11 security personnel were killed in 19 cases of armed violence in the province, from 2014 through 2017.



    Armed with ‘military-grade’ weapons


    Egianus Kogoya, the leader of the rebel group claiming the attack, commands around 50 members armed with military-grade weapons, authorities said.


    Egianus is the son of Silas Kogoya, the TPNPB leader in the 1990s.


    In a video posted on YouTube, Egianus said that the weapons the group used were seized from Indonesian security forces.


    Sebby Sembom, a rebel spokesman, confirmed Egianus' claim.


    “We seized all (weapons) from the TNI-Polri (soldiers and police). We killed them and seized their weapons,” he told BenarNews. He declined to say how many weapons Egianus’ group had.


    Papuan military spokesman Col. Muhamad Aidi acknowledged that Egianus’ group had dozens of standard-issue military weapons, mostly rifles.


    “Some of the firearms were seized from soldiers and police,” he told reporters, adding that some of their weapons also came from outside the country.


    The Egianus group is one of the many TPNPB guerrilla factions, mostly operating in Papua’s central highlands.


    “The attack carried out by TPNPB had been prepared. We declared a war in early 2018,” Sebby told BenarNews in a phone interview.


    He claimed that during the attack on Dec. 2, no TPNPB member was killed, but several were injured by gunfire.





    Agreement between insurgents and workers


    Nathal, a former employee of PT Istaka Karya, a state-owned construction company that builds roads and bridges in Nduga, told reporters there was an agreement last year between construction workers and the rebel group.


    Under the deal, workers would vacate their camps starting Nov. 24 each year to allow separatists to celebrate their independence day in the area on Dec. 1.


    “At that time in November 2017, an agreement was made that every Nov. 24, the dorms or camps must be vacated because Dec. 1 is their independence day,” said Nathal, referring to the insurgents.


    “I’m sorry, why were they still in the camp, even though it was clear that the camp had to be vacated starting Nov. 24?” said Nathal, who uses only one name, like many in Indonesia.


    Another worker named Makbul told reporters that a gunfight between rebels and soldiers during an attack, which killed a soldier at a military post on Monday, lasted from 5 a.m. until around 7 p.m.


    “The post was attacked because four people who escaped the shootings (on construction workers) fled to the TNI (military) post,” Makbul said.


    A video seen by BenarNews showed the bodies of the victims lying on a rocky road, while charred heavy equipment, some still burning, could be glimpsed nearby.

    https://www.benarnews.org/english/ne...018153742.html

  21. #21
    I am in Jail

    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Last Online
    12-10-2022 @ 03:00 PM
    Location
    Earth
    Posts
    1,486
    Quote Originally Posted by Maanaam View Post
    No, it's a simple case of Europeans landing there in 1945 and saying it's theirs.
    My comparison had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with appropriated land.
    ...a guy that tried to settle a territorial dispute by war.
    I don't know where you get that I'm happy. The irony here is that the dead are probably Muslim, something that usually makes you happy.
    Manaam,...apparently...you're just filling in the boredom pages of your day,...today,...eh? You do realize that your side of that ^ debate, is akin to conversing w/ The Wailing Wall,...@ Machu Pichu,..eh?

  22. #22
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    15,541
    Arai wa?

  23. #23
    I am in Jail

    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Last Online
    12-10-2022 @ 03:00 PM
    Location
    Earth
    Posts
    1,486
    I was just poking some fun at you,...ok? Nothing serious. Cheers

  24. #24
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Last Online
    Today @ 12:36 PM
    Location
    Sanur
    Posts
    8,004
    Quote Originally Posted by Maanaam View Post
    No, it's a simple case of Europeans landing there in 1945 and saying it's theirs.
    My comparison had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with appropriated land.
    ...a guy that tried to settle a territorial dispute by war.
    I don't know where you get that I'm happy. The irony here is that the dead are probably Muslim, something that usually makes you happy.
    I’ve given you the benefit of doubt until now, but it’s clear that you are really thick, have zero knowledge of history, and you are a tad insensitive without any notion of why that might be a bad thing.
    Finally, why would dead Muslims make me happy???

  25. #25
    I am in Jail

    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Last Online
    12-10-2022 @ 03:00 PM
    Location
    Earth
    Posts
    1,486
    Quote Originally Posted by Switch View Post
    I’ve given you the benefit of doubt until now, but it’s clear that you are really thick, have zero knowledge of history, and...
    HA!...

Page 1 of 4 1234 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •