We encourage all community (members) to collaborate in creating and maintaining a safe condition so that telecommunications infrastructure development can be carried out smoothly in Papua.Jakarta (ANTARA) - Communication and Informatics Minister Johnny Gerard Plate has condoled the death of eight workers of a telecommunications company who were attacked by an armed Papuan separatist terrorist group in Puncak District, Papua Province, on March 2, 2022.
"We offer our deepest condolences to the families of PT Palapa Timur Telematika (PT PTT) workers who have become the victims of the attack," he said in a press release issued on Friday.
The company is an implementing business entity (BUP) appointed by the ministry as the developer of the East Palapa Ring Project, a strategic national telecommunications infrastructure project for the provinces of Papua, West Papua, East Nusa Tenggara, and Maluku.
The minister condemned the attack, which was conducted in the midst of the government’s efforts to expedite the uniform development of digital connectivity throughout Indonesia, especially in Papua province.
He said he expects proper law enforcement against the perpetrators as well as security restoration to be carried out without delay by the authorities.
The attack occurred on March 2, 2022, around 3 a.m. Eastern Indonesian Standard Time (WIT) at the company’s B3 Repeater Site in Puncak District, he noted.
The armed group attacked nine PT PTT workers, killing eight, and damaged a number of buildings and infrastructure around the location, he said.
Since March 3, 2022, the company has been making attempts to evacuate the bodies of the eight victims and the lone survivor by carefully considering current local security and weather conditions, he informed.
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Hence, to expedite the process, an evacuation coordination attempt is being carried out with local security forces and various related parties, he said.
"We encourage all community (members) to collaborate in creating and maintaining a safe condition so that telecommunications infrastructure development can be carried out smoothly in Papua," he added.
According to a statement posted by PT PTT on its official website, the site of the attack was 3 thousand meters above sea level, thus it can only be reached by helicopter. However, current weather conditions have hindered evacuation attempts, it informed.
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Translator: Fathur Rochman, Uyu Liman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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