Jokowi Orders Military, Police to Investigate the Papua Killings
4 December 2018 12:00 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has ordered the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) Commander Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto and National Police Chief General Tito Karnavian to further investigate news related to the killing of 31 workers in Nduga, Papua.
“I ordered the TNI Commander and Police Chief to crosscheck news related to the incident considering that current information is still unclear. We need to know if it’s true,” said Jokowi at the Bidakara Hotel on Tuesday, December 4.
Read also: Unknown Armed Men Kill Dozens of Workers in Papua
Jokowi said that the areas in the vicinity of Nduga are widely considered to be a “red zone” for the existence of security threats often seen in the area by armed groups.
“However, we deeply understand that developments on Papuan ground is a daunting task and still faces the risk of encountering situations such as these,” said the president.
According to Jokowi, the incident will not halt the numerous infrastructure developments across areas in Papua and that the government will not be deterred by threats coming from armed groups.
31 workers at the Trans Papua construction site located at Nduga District, Papua, were presumably executed by an unknown armed group on December 2.
FRISKI RIANA
