In
Wamena in Papua’s Jayawijaya regency there is a customary belief that women and
children are innocent, that’s why the men have to protect them. “Humi yukurugi
wene inyokodek,” said Dominikus Surabut, head of the customary council of La
Pago. But if women and children become victims, he said, the men are going to
fight in the afternoon and evening. “Inyawim hiam-hiam ninane uok...,”
Dominikus went on.
By: Victor
Mambor and Syofiardi Bachyul
The Jakarta Post
The Jakarta Post
This belief played a
role in the events that took place in Wamena on Sept. 23, a tragedy shInrouded
in mystery amid a communication blackout in the region.
According to statements
from the government, at least 33 were killed in the violence, eight of them
native Papuans. An armed rebel group – referred to as an “armed criminal group”
by the police – was reportedly behind the atrocity. Thousands of people, both
native Papuans and non-native residents, fled the town following the riot.
The police said the
non-native Papuans had died in fire while some had sustained injuries from
sharp weapons. The official statement said nothing about what had caused the
death of the native Papuans.
On Oct. 2, security and
terrorism researcher Sidney Jones of the Institute for Policy Analysis of
Conflict (IPAC) published a piece on Lowy Institute website, saying that “nine
Papuans also died, mostly stabbed by migrants trying to fend off the mob.”
Sidney told the Post on Oct. 23 that she had got the information from a
hospital in Wamena.
The Jakarta Post and
several journalists from Jayapura-based Jubi and Jakarta-based Tirto.id
conducted an investigation in the field in Wamena in Jayawijaya from Oct. 3 to
10 and discovered what the government has failed to reveal.
One of the most
important pieces of information is that more than eight native Papuans died
that day and that they died of gunshot wounds allegedly inflicted by what
locals call “security apparatus”, a joint force of Indonesian Military and
National Police personnel.
The National Police said
there had been an exchange of fire between security officers and an “armed
criminal group” that day. Cendrawasih Military Command spokesperson Lt. Col.
Eko Daryanto echoed the police’s statement.
The Post and other
journalists talked to more than 30 witnesses in Wamena about what happened
during the riot. They were native and non-native residents, including religious
figures, restaurant workers, traders, students and activists who were at the
location that day.
Witnesses said they
first noticed a crowd numbering in the hundreds on Jl. Hom-Hom in Wamena at
about 8 a.m. on Sept. 23. Some people gathered in front of Yudha Supermarket in
Hom-Hom while others gathered nearby.
The protest turned
violent after a young man, later identified as Kelion Tabuni, a sophomore at
the Manado State University in North Sulawesi, was allegedly shot by security
personnel in Hom-Hom at 8:30 a.m.
Kelion, who arrived in
Wamena from Manado two weeks prior to his death, was standing among hundreds of
people when he was shot. A number of people in the crowd wore high school
uniforms, witnesses said. Locals living in the area said they did not recognize
anyone in the crowd.
After Kelion was shot,
people in his crowd carried his body while they were going on a rampage. They
walked past a traders’ area called Pikhe and along the road were kiosks selling
gasoline in bottles and jerrycans for motorcyclists.
The mob stole fuel and
burned down houses and stores on Jl. Pikhe. Witnesses said local residents had
warned the people in the houses and stores, mostly non-native Papuans, to flee
to save themselves from being burned alive. Pikhe became a place of heroic tales
in which native Papuans helped hundreds of non-native residents.
One such person was Obet
Mabel, who, together with other native residents, helped at least 58 families
reach a safe place in the city center. Obet also said he did not recognize any
of the rioters.
“The [non-native]
Papuans then were brought to churches near a bridge in Pikhe,” said Simet
Jikwa, a pastor at the Protestant Wesaroma Church. His church, along with the
Kibaid and Panorama churches, provided shelter to hundreds of scared non-native
Papuans that day.
 |
| A young man who requested anonymity shows a gunshot wound on his leg. He was shot when attempting to enter Wamena via the Wouma Bridge. (JP/Albertus Vembrianto) |
‘I did not recognize a single face’
While some men carried
away Kelion’s body and others set stores and houses on fire on Jl. Pikhe, some
of the crowd headed for a campus in the Hom-Hom area, STISIP Amal Ilmiah Yapis,
and set classrooms on fire. They also burned other properties on Jl. Hom-Hom
and some non-native Papuans died after become trapped inside burning buildings.
Several witnesses said
they did not recognize the faces of arsonists in Hom-Hom. They noticed that
some of them wore high school uniforms, but they did not know anyone among the
crowd.
The National Police said
last month that the perpetrators of the arson and manslaughter were “not from
Wamena”.
“We have asked [the
National Police] to find out and investigate the allegation [that outside
people mobilized the crowd],” National Commission for Human Rights chairman
Taufan Damanik said in Jayapura.
He said the police had
to explain how people moved and entered Wamena during the riot. “Where did they
come from? How did they coordinate? They came from everywhere,” he said.
Obeth Alua, a Wamena
resident who was on Jl. Hom-Hom on that day, said he did not recognize any of
the people who gathered in the area. He claimed that Wamena, the busiest
district of Jayawijaya, was a small town, and he should have recognized at
least one or two of the people there.
“They said they were
there for an antiracism rally. I recognized not a single one of them. And then
I saw two people got shot and fell down, one man and one woman,” said Obeth,
showing the Post where he stood that day and pointing to the location where he
saw the shots.
Later, the Post
confirmed that the man was Kelion Tabuni, but the Post could not confirm the
female victim, who according to Obeth, was taken into the direction of Wesaput.
Jayawijaya Police chief
Adj. Sr. Comr. Tonny Ananda said the student rally had been infiltrated by an
armed group that led to “crossfire” between the armed group and the security
forces.
 |
| Evacuees wait their turn to board an Indonesian Military aircraft at Wamena Airport in Jayawijaya regency on Sept. 28 following a deadly riot on Sept. 23. (Antara/Iwan Adisaputra) |
“During the rally, there
was another mob behind the mob, and behind them there was the armed group. They
were involved in crossfire from Monday to Tuesday morning,” said Tonny.
Up until this article
was written, the government has never spoken about security forces opening fire
at protesters.
They have, however,
pointed fingers at the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), a
self-determination activist group that has close affiliations to the
proindependence movement.
Tonny said people from
the KNPB had spread a “hoax” about a racial statement from a teacher. He said
most of the perpetrators of the riot came from outside Wamena district. The
police, he said, had been investigating “the groups”.
Hoax?
At the same time about 4
kilometers from Yudha Supermarket in Hom-Hom, students of PGRI high school on
Jl. Bhayangkara in Wamena gathered at about 8 a.m. to protest against one of
their teachers, Riris Theodora Panggabean. The students accused Riris of calling
fellow student Anton Pahabol a “monkey” on Sept 18.
Michael Asso, a physical
education teacher at PGRI, said the teachers had held a meeting on Sept. 21 to
question Riris, but Riris denied she had made a racial statement on Sept. 18.
Debora Agapa, the deputy
principal for student affairs, said nothing had happened at the school from
Sept. 19 to 20.
On Sept. 21, however,
students had damaged some school property. Heru, a cafe owner in Wamena, told
the Post that his employee, a high school student at PGRI High School, had came
home early, at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Heru had asked her and she had said one of
her teachers had called a friend “monkey”, and then the students had broken the
windows and computers at the school office,” she said. That evening, she left
Wamena for her hometown in Yahukimo regency. Later on Monday, Michael said,
someone trespassed onto the school ground and damaged a classroom.
Angry students
A teacher at another
school, Kartini, told the Post that she had received a text before Monday about
the rumor emanating from PGRI high school. She had heard the rumor through a
WhatsApp message that called on other students to rally to protest the alleged
racism on Monday.
She said not long after
8 a.m. at her school, SMK Yapis vocational high school — located next to the
Jayawijaya regent’s office — a crowd, some wearing high school uniforms,
others not, threw stones at the school.
Another school, SMA 1
state senior high school in Wamena, was attacked. Three teachers, all native
Papuans, told the Post that about 900 students were attending class to sit a
test. Sometime after 8 a.m., hundreds of students from outside “swarmed like
bees” and called on the students in the classroom to rally with them. They also
threw stones at the windows, hurting some of the students.
Papua Governor Lukas
Enembe told the Post on Oct. 1 that he had received reports about three junior
high school students, native Papuans, who had been doused with gasoline and set
on fire by the rioters because they refused to join a rally. “Those who set the
children on fire wore high school uniforms, and what they did was cruel,” he
said. Media reports said the student victims were from SMP 1 state junior high
school in Wamena.
Students that look too old
On Monday morning,
police officers arrived to meet the students at the high school, a teacher
said. The officers tried to calm down the students, who were angry because they
could not speak with Riris, and the police asked them to settle the matter at
the Jayawijaya Police station.
So they walked to the
police station, and along the way they called on other students to join them,
some by force.
While the students
walked to the regent’s office, shops in Pikhe and Yapis campus in Hom-Hom had
already been set on fire by the other crowd.
Fires were reported in
many places, including at Potikelek, located south of Jl. Hom-Hom. Security
personnel fired tear gas in Potikelek, witnesses said.
When students reached
the regent’s office, they gathered in the front yard to wait for the regent.
Local journalist Naftali Pawika said he had received information that the
regent was out of the office at the time to assess the situation in Hom-Hom.
When Regent John Banua
Rouw arrived, the students delivered their demand that seven school mates be
released.
“They also wanted no
security forces in the regent’s compound while they were there, and they did
not allow anyone to take pictures,” said Dominikus Surabut, the La Pago
customary chief.
Naftali said when the
regent was talking to the students, someone took pictures of the students, who
became angry and chased after the person. But the man left the compound in a
car.
“Not long after, while
the students were still in commotion due to that man, the regent’s office
finance building, located at the very back of the compound, was on fire,” he
said.
 |
| The principal of SMP 1 state junior high school in Wamena, Yemima Kopeuw, guides her students in dance to eliminate anxiety on the first day back at school on Oct. 7. (JP/Syofiardi Bachyul Jb) |
Fire trucks came but the students blocked the trucks, because they did not want the firefighters to extinguish the fire. Tension flared up and the students at the front yard of the compound threw stones at the regent’s office building. Chaos ensued and people ran away from the chaos.
“The fire grew bigger
and, I don’t know how, caught other buildings separated from the finance office
building. At the end, only one building survived,” he said.
At this time, native
Papuan women and children fled the town for kampungs surrounding Wamena.
Chaos in Wouma
While fire was raging at
the regent’s office, some of the crowd headed toward the airport to set it on
fire, but the security forces intercepted them with tear gas. So they instead
went to Wouma, where chaos broke out.
At the same time,
witnesses said another crowd began to gather on the fringe of town; they were
people from kampungs who had heard rumors that their children who went to
school in the city center had been shot by security forces and arrested by the
police.
People said the fact
that Papuan women and children had fled the town for kampungs had prompted the
men in the kampungs head into town.
Many students in Wamena
hail from other districts in rural Jayawijaya, a regency that is home to the
famous Baliem Valley. They usually stay in rooming houses in Wamena, away from
their parents, during the school week.
“We heard that our
children had been arrested by police and some had been shot. We also heard the
students wanted to go to the airport to burn it down,” said Alex Asso, the
elder brother of Yus Asso, one of the native Papuans who was shot dead in the
riot.
Parents and family
members of Wamena students left their villages and headed for Wamena but were
stopped by security forces at the Wouma Bridge.
On the other side of the
Wouma Bridge, the crowd at the regent’s office had grown larger and angrier.
Mus Mulyadi, a satay restaurant owner, said he saw men dressed in high school
uniforms.
“Those who set the
kiosks on fire were all men who did not look like students. One had a beard
this long,” he said, gesturing to indicate the length.
One witness, who
requested anonymity, said security personnel had fired shots here. He was
injured by one of the shots before he could reach the town.
The shots made the crowd
even angrier and they set alight stores and kiosks in Wouma. Witnesses said
more victims were killed here, because the mob did not bother to check whether
there were people inside the buildings. Some non-native Papuans were also
reportedly stabbed by members of the mob.
Data from the police and
the Post’s investigation show that at least 42 died because of the riot.
Thousands of people, native and non-natives Papuans, fled Wamena, some flew out
of the island and went back to their hometowns in places like West Sumatra and
South Sulawesi.
The Post’s investigation
revealed many things that had not been published before. But still, some
questions are left unanswered: Who were the crowd at Hom-Hom? Why were they
there? Was any armed group involved as the police said? The dozens of witnesses
did not mention seeing armed civilians.
Komnas HAM commissioner
Taufan Damanik said the police and the Indonesian Military had to investigate
what really happened there. "So, we don't miss any [facts]," said
Taufan.
Governor Lukas said he
believed the riot had been planned, not by residents of Wamena nor the Baliem
Valley people. He believed the perpetrators pretended to be high school
students. “This happened by design,” he said. “But we don’t know who, and it is
difficult to prove.”
Whether the riot
happened by design or not, it has strained the relationship between the
nonnative and native Papuans in Wamena. La Pago customary council chief
Dominikus Surabut said in his apology to non-native Papuans that the situation
took them by surprise and “was out of their control”. He said they helped all
those they could help that day, but he was sorry that they could not help all.
“Let’s build [Wamena]
together. We eat from the same plate, we sit side by side, building lives. I
cannot prevent [non-natives] from leaving Wamena, but for you who come back,
let’s build Papua together, in particular Baliem. For native Papuans, it is our
belief that when we say we are best friends, it is not only [empty] words,” he
said in a video interview with the Post on Oct. 4. “Before you shed your blood,
we will shed ours first [to protect you].
Shot, wounded and dead:
Wamena riot death toll remains shrouded in mystery
On Monday, Sept. 23,
Amandus, took his son on a motorcycle to SMA YPPK Santo Thomas senior high
school in Wamena, Jayawijaya, Papua. When they arrived, his son got off and
went to his class while Amandus went to park his motorcycle because he needed
to meet his son’s teacher. Not long after he left the bike, he heard gunshots.
“Children were running
out of the classrooms, including my son. He saw me and he ran to me,” Amandus,
a resident of Pisugi district, said.
He did not quite
understand what was happening. The commotion continued and he heard gunshots
getting nearer the school. The students ran in panic, knocking his motorcycle
to the ground. He pulled his son’s arm, ran outside the school and hid in his
relative’s house not far from the school.
From the house, he
peeked out. He heard people yelling amid the gunshots.
“I tried to look from
the open door. Suddenly I felt pain in my thumb and my thigh. I fell. I was
shot and the bullet was in my thigh,” Amandus said in Wamena.
17 reported dead from gunshots
Amandus was lucky, he
was taken to the hospital immediately, received emergency treatment and was
flown to the provincial capital in Jayapura for surgery. Others were not so
lucky.
A young man who
requested anonymity told The Jakarta Post he was shot in his thigh on Wouma
bridge, when he tried to enter Wamena after hearing that high school students
were being arrested and shot. He never got to Wamena and went home to treat his
wound. But he was at least alive.
Naligi Wenda, Keitron
Kogoya, Eles Himan, Yus Asso, Mison Lokbere, Marius Wenda, Manu Meage, Elakim
Wetapo, Gestanus Hisage, Kelion Tabuni and Lawan Hesegem did not survive.
Naligi was a security
guard at Yudha Supermarket on Jl. Homhom, the place where the earliest crowd
was spotted by witnesses on the day of the bloody riot. He was reportedly shot
near Wouma bridge, about 4 kilometers from his workplace. His family said that
day he did not work but he went to Wouma on his way to the airport. He was shot
dead, his family told the Post.
Keitron Kogoya suffered
the same fate. He was reportedly shot near Wouma bridge. Neither he nor Niligi
ever reached the hospital; that was why their names do not appear on the
official list. From the killing zone in Wouma, their family members took their
bodies home and cremated them as is their tradition.
“My uncle went to his
campus, STISIP Amal Ilmiah Wamena, to finalize his thesis topic. In the
afternoon, we heard that he was dead from a gunshot wound to the hip,” Iton
Pahabol told the Post about the fate of his uncle, Eles Himan.
 |
| A man stands at the location of Eles Himan grave, one of the dead victims among native Papuans. (JP/Albertus Vembrianto) |
Eles, he said, was found
by family members in Wamena Regional Hospital (RSUD Wamena). The body was
dressed only in pants.
Yus Asso, a Kampung
Megapura resident, was reportedly shot in Wouma. Yus was still alive when he
was taken to the hospital, said his brother, Alex Asso, but he was not able to
see Yus before he died. “They did not allow men to enter the hospital, only the
women,” he said.
Brought home directly
Alex said the bodies of
several people that had been shot were taken to the hospital. Many of those who
were shot and injured did not go to the hospital for treatment because they
were afraid of the police and military guarding the hospital. Most of them were
afraid of being arrested if they went to the hospital for treatment. They heard
stories about the police rounding up injured victims, naming them suspects and
detaining them.
“Ruben Esema, a student,
is now detained in Jayawijaya Police. When his family members went to take him
home from the hospital after surgery for his gunshot wounds, he had already
been taken into police custody,” Alex said.
A similar fate befell
Anderson Uaga, a student at SMA 1 high school Wamena. He was shot in his
stomach. After getting treatment at RSUD Wamena, Anderson was taken by the
police on Sept. 30. He is still detained and receiving medical treatment at
Jayawijaya Police’s health clinic.
Papua Police
spokesperson Sr. Comr. AM Kamal said on Oct. 7 that the police had named 13
people suspects in the Wamena riot. Three are still at large, those detained
have been identified only as DM, 19, RW, 18, AU, 16, RA, 16, AK, 19, DC 32, YP,
22, ES, 27, NT, 27, and SK, 40.
La Pago Customary
Council chief, Dominikus Surabut, said he was certain the official data did not
reveal everything. Many victims, dead or injured, were not on the official
list.
The Customary Council
held an extraordinary congress after the riot and collected information about
eight people who were believed to have been shot dead but were not on the
police list.
The Post and
Jayapura-based Jubi also received information about one man who was shot dead
during the riot. He has been identified as Nisaba Himan. His body was found in
Pisugi with a gunshot wound in his chest.
Not on national media
From Oct. 3 to 8,
journalists from the Post, Tirto.id and Jubi investigated claims by native Papuan
residents that the police and the military fired into the crowd on Sept. 23.
Many of them said families did not want to go to hospitals because they
believed the hospitals were heavily guarded by the security forces, which for a
lot of native Papuans means trouble. So, the Post went to villages quite far
from the town center—Pisugi, Asotipo, Wesaput and Megapura—to verify the
claims.
 |
| A family member shows the location where Kelion Tabuni was buried in Kampung Pisugi in Jayawijaya, Papua, on Oct. 7. (JP/Syofiardi Bachyul Jb) |
These claims have been
largely unreported by the national media. No one has said anything about
security forces shooting into the crowd.
The Health Ministry has
reported 33 fatalities in the riot. Twenty-six were dead on arrival at the
hospital while five died in the hospital. An additional two victims died as a
result of underlying conditions or illness but the government included them in
the death toll because there was a suspicion that their deaths were related to
the riot.
The government released
31 names from the death toll and eight of the names have been identified as
probably being of native Papuans, while the remainder appear to be of people
from other ethnic origins such as West Sumatra and South Sulawesi.
The government said the
causes of the deaths of the 31 were fire and stabbing. On Oct. 2, Sidney Jones
from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict wrote on the Lowy
Institute’s website that “nine Papuans also died, mostly stabbed by migrants
trying to fend off the mob.”
Verified deaths and causes
The Post, in
collaboration with Jubi and Tirto.id, however, has verified at least 11 native
Papuans who died as a result of gunshot wounds. The Post received 17 names and
nine were new names that were not on the government list. The eight native
Papuans on the government list were verified too, and the family members have
confirmed that they sustained gunshot wounds. Some were taken from the site
directly to their homes to be cremated.
The National Commission
of Human Rights said on Oct. 18 that it had discovered 10 additional fatalities
apart from those the government published. Commissioner Beka Ulung Hapsara said
the 10 people were reportedly shot dead but their names were not on the list
because their families brought the bodies directly to their homes. “We still
have to investigate this, it will not be easy to clarify and validate whether
there are really additional fatalities outside the 33 published,” commissioner
Beka Ulung Hapsara said in Jayapura on Oct. 12.
Eleven verified
fatalities:
1. Ketron Kogoya (shot in
Wouma, on government list)
2. Eles Himan (shot in
Homhom, on government list)
3. Yus Asso (shot in Wouma,
on government list)
4. Nison Lokbere (shot in
Homhom, on government list)
5. Marius Wenda (shot in
Homhom, on government list)
6. Manu Meage (shot in
Wouma, on government list)
7. Elakim Wetapo (shot in
Homhom, on government list)
8. Gestanus Hisage (shot in
Wouma, on government list)
9. Kelion Tabuni (shot in
Homhom, on Papua Customary Council list)
10. Naligi Wenda (shot in
Wouma, on Papua Customary Council list)
11. Lawan Hesegem (shot in
Wouma, on Papua Customary Council list)
Six names from the Papua
Customary Council and named locally, not yet verified:
1. Nisaba Himan (shot and
later found in Pisugi)
2. Inius Tabuni (shot and
later found in Baliem River)
3. Beam Wenda (shot and
later found in Tulem)
4. Naligin Yikwa (shot in
Homhom)
5. Wenas Babingga (shot in
Homhom)
6. Yandrik Wenda (shot in
Wouma)
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