The Straits Times, Saturday June 8, 2002
First The Murder, Now...
Papuan leader's grave vandalised
Presidium calls on the people to stay calm and not to be provoked
JAKARTA - The grave of murdered Papuan independence leader Theys Eluay was
vandalised yesterday, according to Indonesian police and a local leader.
Thaha al Hamid, the Secretary General of the Papua Presidium, said a person who
had been taking pictures of Mr Eluay's grave poured kerosene over it and set it alight.
'We've asked the people to stay calm and not be provoked and we've asked the police
to find the perpetrator,' he told reporters before meeting President Megawati
Sukarnoputri at the state palace.
Police in the Papuan capital, Jayapura, said only dead flowers around the grave had
been burnt.
They said they were searching for the culprit.
As President of the presidium, Eluay spearheaded a non-violent campaign for
independence for Indonesia's easternmost province.
He was abducted and murdered last November as he was driving home from a military
function in Jayapura.
A government-appointed National Investigation Commission has named nine soldiers
including six special forces officers as suspects in his murder.
A separate group known as the Free Papua Movement has been waging a sporadic
low-level guerilla struggle for independence since the Dutch ceded control of the
resource-rich territory to Indonesia in 1963. --AFP
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