The National Police's Criminal Investigation Directorate contacted the West Papua and Papua police headquarters regarding the handling of the caseJakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's National Police took over the probe into the case of racist remark by the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) politician Ambroncius Nababan on his social media account, allegedly directed at noted Papuan human rights defender.
"The National Police's Criminal Investigation Directorate contacted the West Papua and Papua police headquarters regarding the handling of the case," National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono told journalists in Jakarta on Monday.
Yuwono remarked that the National Police’s cybercrime investigators took over the handling of the investigation into Nababan's case since they had earlier analyzed it to gain a precise understanding of the crime scene (locus delicti) and Nababan's whereabouts.
Based on a cyber-based analysis, Nababan might have uploaded his racist remark on his Facebook account from Jakarta, he noted, adding that police investigators will summon the person who filed the case, Nababan, witnesses, and experts for investigation purposes.
According to local media reports, the West Papua police had received a report seeking the police's probe into Nababan's case of alleged racist remark from Chairman of the Indonesian Youth National Committee (KNPI)-West Papua Chapter Sius Dowansiba on Monday.
Meanwhile, Nababan disclosed to CNN Indonesia the reason behind him posting the photos of Natalius Pigai, a former commissioner of Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), and a gorilla in his Facebook account.
Nababan, concurrently general chairman of the Pro-Jokowi-Amin Volunteers (Projamin), was quoted by CNN Indonesia on Monday as saying that he did so to respond to Pigai's statement expressing his rejection to China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine.
As a volunteer of incumbent President Joko Widodo, Nababan voiced his discontent over Pigai's statement, according to CNN Indonesia.
In response to Nababan's racist remark, Pigai wrote a statement directed to Lloyd Austin, a retired army general, that US President Joe Biden had appointed him to be his defense secretary, on his Twitter account @NataliusPigai2.
Austin is the first African American to hold the top Pentagon position in the US history.
"I am proud of you, mr@LloydAustin, black African American most powerful gentleman in the world. We have been on fire against Indonesian Collective (state) Racism to black African Melanesian (Papuan) for more than 50 years. Torture, killing & slow motion genocide. We need attention," Pigai wrote.
In August and September 2019, Papua and West Papua had 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.
On August 28, 2019, 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, 2019, as they vented their ire over the alleged racist behavior against their Papuan compatriots in Surabaya, but their rally then took a violent turn.
On September 23, 2019, 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.
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Translator: Anita PD, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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