West Papua: Attacked Border Post in Merauke

Violence Attack by Free Papua Movement

Merauke: An attack on a border post between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea when two local inhabitants, Klemen Basik-Basik and Amandus Basik-Basik were shot dead is now under investigation. The two lost their lives because they attacked members of infantry battalion 132/Bima Sakti who were on duty at the post.

The police are questioning a person named Wiliam Basik-Basik who was reported to have seized weapons from the military post. ‘We have taken Wiliam into custody for questioning and have identified five witnesses who we have summoned,’ said Merauke police chief Djoko Prihadi following the incident of the justified shooting of the two men.

The police said that Wiliam had seized the weapons because he thought that members of his family were under threat, but the police intend to get more statements about why Wiliam took action that was not really necessary.

‘He should have surrendered instead of running away.’ He was not able to explain why the attack had been made on an Indonesian-PNG border post. Two men had died which means that information can only be obtained from witnesses.

With regard to the attack on the border post, the military police officer said that it was within the powers of the local military who have the competence to handle it. We can only handle cases involving civilians.’

Djoko would not say how long the investigations would take but once enough evidence had been collected,the case will be handed on to the attorney’s office. He said that bearing in mind that both the police and the army were involved, there would be coordination between the police and the army during the investigations.

The local bupati of Merauke, Sunaryo took a cautious approach towards the incident. He said that since the incident had occurred in the border region, at Nasem Post, Merauke, it was within the competence of the police to conduct the investigations., while at the same time involving the military. Sunaryo has only recently been appointed as bupati for a five-year term. ‘We very much hope that conditions in the region will continue to be conducive in an area of peace.

He also hoped that the incident would not be politicised, with a number of opinions being expressed leading to lengthy polemics. ‘We hope that the rule of law will prevail on the basis of testimony from the witnesses.

‘In such a heated atmosphere, we are making approaches to the communities living close to the vicinity of the crime scene and will supply them with food in compensation for any problems they have experienced. He called upon the media not to exaggerate things.