Tersangka Kerusuhan Papua Tambah jadi 85 Orang disorot Media Asing
Indonesian Police Arrest Dozens over Papua Riots
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
KEPOLISIAN RI [Polri] menangkap dan menetapkan 85 orang tersangka dalam peristiwa gelombang unjuk rasa berujung kerusuhan di Papua dan Papua Barat, setelah Polri menuding seorang pemimpin separatis Papua yang berada di Inggris.
Secara resmi, lima demonstran dan seorang tentara tewas, tetapi para aktivis mengatakan jumlah kematian warga sipil lebih tinggi.
Kemenkominfo memblokir layanan internet di Papua, sehingga sulit untuk memverifikasi informasi secara independen. Larangan tersebut secara bertahap dicabut meskipun masih berlaku di beberapa kota.
Warga asing juga dilarang memasuki Papua karena menyangkut masalah keamanan.
Polri mengatakan mereka telah menangkap 85 orang di Papua sejak kerusuhan pecah pada pertengahan Agustus dan sedang memburu 20 tersangka lainnya.
Kepala Biro Penerangan Masyarakat Divisi Humas Polri Brigadir Jenderal Dedi Prasetyo mengatakan ada penambahan tersangka di Papua dan Papua Barat.
Pihak berwenang telah menangkap para tersangka di Papua dan mengeluarkan surat perintah penangkapan untuk seorang pengacara Indonesia terkemuka dan pembela hak Papua atas tuduhan bahwa ia menyebarkan berita palsu tentang kerusuhan di akun media sosialnya.
Pihak berwenang juga menuding Benny Wenda, ketua Gerakan United Liberation untuk Papua Barat, yang dikatakan telah memicu kerusuhan untuk menarik perhatian global pada seruan baru untuk referendum.
"Kerusuhan di Papua terjadi karena desain," kata juru bicara Kepolisian Nasional Dedi Prasetyo Senin malam.
Benny Wenda, mantan pemberontak separatis yang diberi suaka di Inggris tahun lalu, sebelumnya menolak tudingan bahwa tindakannya "bermotivasi politik".
Sebagian besar warga Papua beragama Kristen dan etnik Melanesia dengan sedikit ikatan budaya dengan penduduk Indonesia yang mayoritas Muslim.
Dalam pertemuan dengan para pemimpin Papua pada Selasa di Jakarta, Presiden Joko Widodo berjanji untuk memberikan pekerjaan di BUMN kepada 1.000 mahasiswa Papua yang baru lulus dan mempertimbangkan untuk membangun istana kepresidenan di Papua - Indonesia memiliki istana kepresidenan di Jakarta, Bogor dan Tampaksiring, Bali.
Aksi unjuk rasa meletus di Papua setelah terjadi insiden di asrama mahasiswa Papua di Surabaya, yang dituding sebagai tindak rasial seperti dikutip AFP yang dilansir MailOnline.
INDONESIAN authorities have arrested 85 people linked to weeks of deadly unrest in Papua, police said, as Jakarta accused an exiled separatist leader of stoking riots in its easternmost territory.
Tens of thousands protested across Papua -- on the western half of New Guinea island -- as anger over racism and fresh calls for self-rule fuelled mass demonstrations and violent clashes with security forces.
Officially, five demonstrators and a soldier were killed, but activists say the civilian death toll is higher.
Jakarta blocked internet services in Papua, making it difficult to independently verify information. The ban has been gradually lifted though remains in effect in some cities.
Foreigners have also been restricted from entering the region over what the government said were security concerns.
Indonesian police said they have arrested 85 people in Papua since the unrest broke out in mid-August and are hunting for another 20 suspects.
Authorities have arrested suspects in other parts of the country and issued an arrest warrant for a prominent Indonesian lawyer and Papuan rights defender over allegations she spread fake news about the unrest on her social media account.
Authorities also pointed a finger at Benny Wenda, chairman of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, saying he stoked riots to draw global attention to renewed calls for an independence vote.
"The riots in Papua happened by design," National Police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said late Monday.
Wenda, a former separatist rebel who was granted asylum in Britain years ago, earlier dismissed Jakarta´s claims as "politically motivated".
A low-level separatist insurgency has simmered for decades in Papua, a former Dutch colony, after Jakarta took over the mineral-rich region in the 1960s. A vote to stay within the archipelago was widely viewed as rigged.
Most Papuans are Christian and ethnic Melanesian with few cultural ties to the rest of Muslim-majority Indonesia.
Jakarta has long ruled out talk of Papuan independence, a position it has repeated in recent weeks.
In a meeting with traditional Papuan leaders Tuesday in Jakarta, President Joko Widodo pledged to give government jobs to 1,000 newly graduated Papuan students and to consider building a presidential palace in the region -- the archipelago has six palaces including in the capital and holiday island Bali.
A firestorm of protests broke across Papua and other parts of the Southeast Asian nation after the arrest and teargassing of dozens of Papuan students, who were also racially abused, in Indonesia´s second-biggest city Surabaya.
