This visit is part of our supervisory functions to gather inputs from first-hand sources regarding the current situation in Papua.Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA) - Some 10 members of the House of Representatives' (DPR's) Commission I, overseeing defense and foreign affairs, visited Jayapura on Friday to meet with representatives of the Papua provincial administration in order to obtain first-hand accounts.
Deputy Papua Governor Klemen Tinal received the 10 members in the company of several representatives of the Papua provincial government's regional apparatus organization (OPD).
Meanwhile, the House delegation, headed by Meutya Viada Hafid, comprised Rudianto Tjen, Sturman Panjaitan, Hi Lodewijk Paulus, Nurur Arifin, Sugiono, Yan Permenas Mandenas, Taufiq R. Abdullah, Jazuli Juwaeini, and Syaifullah Tamliha.
Tinal told the visiting legislators that the Commission I's visit was expected to make the House pay greater attention to Papua's dynamic condition and help produce more pro-Papuan people policies.
Head of the House's Commission I Meutya Viada Hafid affirmed that it was her commission's first trip to Papua since their official inauguration as members of parliament on Oct 1, 2019.
"This visit is part of our supervisory functions to gather inputs from first-hand sources on the current situation in Papua," Hafid stated.
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Papua and West Papua have come under the radar of both Indonesian and foreign media after a spate of violence broke out in several parts of these two Indonesian provinces in August and September 2019.
On August 28, violence erupted in Deiyai District, some 500 kilometers away from Jayapura, resulting in the deaths of an army soldier and two civilians.
The indigenous Papuan residents of Jayapura again held protests on August 29, as they vented their ire over the alleged racist behavior against their Papuan compatriots in Surabaya, but their rally then turned violent.
On September 23, a deadly riot had erupted in Wamena, the capital city of Jayawijaya District, Papua Province, killing 33 civilians, including a senior medical doctor, who had served the native Papuans for 15 years.
Security challenges in the provinces of Papua and West Papua have become tougher, with the armed Papuan separatists' ongoing campaigns of killing innocent people, especially non-native Papuans, over the past years.
Two days after the rioting in Wamena erupted, a notorious group of armed Papuan criminals brutally killed three motorcycle taxi (Ojek) drivers in Sugapa Sub-district, Intan Jaya District, Papua Province.
With the incident occurring on Oct 25, the number of innocent civilians killed by these armed Papuan criminals has increased.
On September 26, they also executed two Ojek drivers, Alwi and Midung, near the Muara suspension bridge in Amnunggi Village, Ilaga Sub-district, Puncak District.
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Translator: Hendrina DK, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Sri Haryati
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