The Jakarta Post, April 07, 2003
Army sends Kopassus back into Papua
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura, Papua
After a daring burglary at the Wamena military district's arsenal on Friday in which
two soldiers were killed and 29 rifles were stolen, 144 combat soldiers from the
Army's Special Forces have been deployed to hunt down those responsible.
The elite soldiers were flown Jakarta by a Hercules C-13 cargo plane to Wamena, the
capital of Jayawijaya regency, and were ordered to immediately join the manhunt in
forest areas in the regency.
Trikora Military commander overseeing Papua Brig. Gen. Nurdin Zainal said that his
soldiers had so far recovered 10 M-16 and SP2 rifles.
"We will continue with the manhunt until we recover the remaining 19 rifles and arrest
the rebels," he said in Wamena on Saturday.
The burglary has been blamed on the Free Papua Movement (OPM) separatist group.
The deployment of elite troops came just over one month after the Army dissolved a
Kopassus task force in Papua after a six-year presence.
When seeing off the last batch of Kopassus task force comprising 250 personnel late
in March, then Trikora Military commander Maj. Gen. Mahidin Simbolon said that no
replacement troops would be sent to the province as security had greatly improved.
Despite the implication of seven Kopassus soldiers in the murder of Papua
independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluaway in November 2001, Mahidin said the
dissolution of the task force had nothing to do with resistance by locals.
Zainal said he had also ordered all security posts in remote areas in the regency to
stay alert against attacks by OPM rebels using the stolen arms.
Two soldiers identified as First Lt. A. Napitupulu and First Sgt. Ruben Lena and
alleged rebel Islae Murib were killed in a gunfight when around 15 men broke into the
arsenal and stole the rifles and ammunition.
Napitupulu's body was taken to Yogyakarta for burial while Ruben's was buried in
Nabire.
The incident sparked a harsh reaction from Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ryamizard
Ryacudu, who ordered the military in Papua to hunt down the rebels and recover the
stolen arms.
Separately, a team led by Col. Sutarno, chief of the military police in the province, is
investigating the burglary.
There is suspicion that personnel from the military district played a role in the theft
because the burglary occurred under noses of on-duty soldiers. Six soldiers have
been already interrogated in connection with the incident and six employees of state
electricity company PT PLN's local office were also questioned because there was a
blackout at the time of the incident.
Meanwhile, Paskalis Kossay, a legislator of the Golkar Party at the provincial
legislative council, called on the local military to be extra cautious in carrying out the
military operation to avoid the loss of innocent lives.
He also said it was odd that a theft could occur at the military district's headquarters
located in the middle of the Wamena town.
"All officers who were on duty at the time of the burglary should be interrogated, but
we don't want the soldiers making any mistakes such as those made in 1977," he
said.
The local military killed a number of villagers during a military operation to release
Indonesian and foreign researchers abducted by rebels in Mpenduma, Wamena, in
1977.
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