Investigators asked Nababan 25 questions during his interrogation on Monday evening before deciding to name him a suspect in the case, director of the National Police's Cybercrime Investigation Division, Brig.Gen. Slamet Uliandi, said here on Tuesday.
The National Police took over the probe into Nababan's alleged racist remark against former commissioner of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), Natalius Pigai, from the West Papua and Papua police headquarters.
As disclosed earlier by National Police spokesperson, Insp. Gen. Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono, the National Police's cybercrime investigators took over the investigation since they had analyzed it to gain a precise understanding of the crime scene (locus delicti) and Nababan's whereabouts.
Based on a cyber-based analysis, Nababan may have uploaded his racist remark on his Facebook account from Jakarta, he noted.
According to local media reports, West Papua police had received a report seeking a police probe into Nababan's alleged racist remark from chairman of the Indonesian Youth National Committee (KNPI), West Papua chapter, Sius Dowansiba, on Monday.
Meanwhile, Nababan had disclosed to CNN Indonesia the reason behind his posting photos of Natalius Pigai and a gorilla on his Facebook account.
Nababan, who is also general chairman of the Pro-Jokowi-Amin Volunteers (Projamin), was quoted by CNN Indonesia on Monday as saying that he had made the remarks in response to Pigai's statement rejecting Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine.
As a volunteer of incumbent President Joko Widodo, Nababan had voiced his discontent over Pigai's statement, according to CNN Indonesia.
In response to Nababan's remarks, Pigai wrote a post using his Twitter handle @NataliusPigai2 for Lloyd Austin, a retired army general appointed by US President Joe Biden as his defense secretary.
Austin is the first African American to hold the top Pentagon post in 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 engulfed several parts of the two Indonesian provinces.
On August 28, 2019, violence had erupted in Deiyai district, about 500 kilometers away from Jayapura, resulting in the deaths of an army soldier and two civilians.
The indigenous Papuan residents of Jayapura had again held protests on August 29, 2019, venting ire over alleged racist behavior against their Papuan compatriots in Surabaya, but their rally had taken a violent turn.
On September 23, 2019, a deadly riot had erupted in Wamena, the capital of Jayawijaya district, Papua province, which had claimed the lives of 33 civilians, including a senior medical doctor, who had served native Papuans for 15 years. (INE)
Related news: National police investigate case of Nababan's alleged racist remark
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Translator: Anita PD, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Suharto
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