Lebih 16.000 Warga Pendatang di Papua Mengungsi dari Wamena
More than 16,000 Flee Unrest in Indonesia`s Papua
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
LEBIH DARI 16.000 warga pendatang di Wamena yang khawatir terhadap keamanan dan keselamatan mereka memilih mengungsi dari Papua, Senin, setelah terjadi unjuk rasa yang berujung tindak anarkis dan kekerasan.
Tercatat 33 orang tewas ketika kekerasan meletus di kota Wamena bulan lalu, dengan beberapa korban dibakar hidup-hidup setelah membakar rumah, dan yang lainnya ditikam dalam kekacauan, menurut pihak berwenang.
Sejak pertengahan Agustus, Papua dilanda gelombang protes massa dan kekerasan yang dipicu oleh rasisme terhadap penduduk asli Papua di Surabaya, Jawa Timur serta seruan untuk pemerintahan sendiri di wilayah miskin.
Pada Senin, TNI AU mengatakan sekitar 11.400 orang - sebagian besar warga pendatang - telah dievakuasi dengan pesawat militer.
Beberapa ribu lainnya mengungsi menggunakan pesawat komersial sejak akhir September, tambahnya.
Juga hari Senin, Human Rights Watch menyerukan penyelidikan atas 33 kematian selama kerusuhan Wamena yang akan dipimpin oleh Komisi Nasional Hak Asasi Manusia [Komnas HAM].
Komentar Rasis
"Pemerintah Indonesia juga harus segera mengizinkan kantor hak asasi manusia Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa akses tanpa batas ke (Papua) untuk menyelidiki situasi ini," kata Komnas HAM melalui pernyataan resmi.
Kekerasan di Wamena dilaporkan dipicu oleh komentar rasis yang dibuat oleh guru setempat terhadap siswa, tetapi polisi membantah laporan itu.
Sejak itu, ribuan penduduk - baik orang Papua maupun non-Papua - telah dievakuasi, ketika berita tentang kekerasan muncul di media sosial.
Namun, ada tanda-tanda bahwa Wamena kembali normal dengan banyak toko dan sekolah dibuka kembali - meskipun sebagian besar siswa telah tinggal di rumah - sementara kantor pemerintah juga telah beroperasi sejak minggu lalu, menurut seorang wartawan AFP seperti dikutip MailOnline.
Pada Agustus, protes meletus di seluruh Papua dan di bagian lain negara itu setelah penangkapan, pelecehan ras dan merobek-robek puluhan siswa Papua, di kota Surabaya.
Migran menjadi minoritas yang berpengaruh di Papua, pindah ke sana dari bagian lain negara itu untuk mengejar peluang di wilayah kaya sumber daya alam termasuk tambang emas terbesar di dunia.
MORE THAN 16,000 scared residents have fled an unrest-hit city in Indonesia's Papua region, the military said Monday, as one of the deadliest eruptions of violence in years sparked calls for an independent probe.
Several dozen people were killed when violence broke out in Wamena city last month, with some victims burned alive when buildings were ablaze, and others stabbed in the chaos, according to authorities.
Since mid-August, Papua has been hit by waves of mass protests and violence fuelled by racism against indigenous Papuans by Indonesians from other parts of the archipelago, as well as calls for self-rule in the impoverished region.
The majority of Papuans are Christian and ethnic Melanesian with few cultural ties to the rest of Muslim-majority Indonesia.
On Monday, the air force said about 11,400 people -- mostly migrants -- had been evacuated aboard military aircraft.
Several thousand more have left aboard commercial aircraft since late September, it added.
Also Monday, Human Rights Watch called for a probe into 33 deaths during the Wamena riots to be led by the Southeast Asian country's National Commission on Human Rights.
- Sparked by racist comments -
"The Indonesian government should also immediately allow the United Nations human rights office unfettered access to (Papua) to investigate the situation," the rights group said in a statement.
The violence in Wamena was reportedly sparked by racist comments made by a local teacher towards students, but police have disputed that account.
Since then, thousands of residents -- both Papuans and non-Papuans -- have been evacuated, as news of looming violence circulates on social media.
However, there were signs that Wamena was returning to normal with many shops and schools reopened -- although most students have stayed home -- while government offices have also been operating since last week, according to an AFP reporter.
In August, protests broke out across Papua and in other parts of the country after the arrest, racial abuse and tear-gassing of dozens of Papuan students, in the city of Surabaya.
Migrants have become an influential minority in Papua, moving there from other parts of the country in pursuit of opportunities in the mineral-rich region -- home to the world's biggest gold mine.
A low-level separatist insurgency has simmered for decades in the former Dutch colony -- which shares New Guinea island with the independent nation of Papua New Guinea -- after Jakarta took over in the 1960s.
A UN-sponsored vote to stay within the archipelago in 1969 was widely viewed as rigged, and Jakarta has long refused to consider another referendum.
