JAKARTA (PINA) — High ranking Indonesian officers were possibly involved in last year’s killing of West Papuan pro-independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluay, the national military police chief, Maj. Gen. Sulaiman A.B. said.
He was quoted by the Jakarta Post newspaper as saying: “It is not an ordinary murder. We can see that Theys was not an ordinary person…he was the local Papuan leader, so I believe political motives were behind the killing.”
Sulaiman was speaking on the sidelines of the National Resilience Institute, or Lemhannas, 37th anniversary celebration, the Jakarta Post said.
He, however, refused to confirm or deny rumors that Theys’ killing involved intelligence operatives from a neighboring country.
“You can make your own conclusion,” Sulaiman said when pressed by journalists to comment on whether or not an international conspiracy was behind the killing.
Theys, chairman of the pro-independence Papuan Presidium Council, was found dead inside his Kijang van on Nov. 11 near the Indonesian-ruled province’s border with Papua New Guinea.
It came a few hours after he attended a function at the local headquarters of the Indonesian army’s special force, or Kopassus.
Aristoteles Masoka, who drove Theys to the ceremony and is believed to be a key witness in the murder, is still missing.
After a series of investigations, Indonesian military police detained nine Kopassus members: three middle ranking military officers and six lower ranking soldiers.
They have been named as suspects in the murder case and were initially charged with violating Article 338 of Indonesia’s Criminal Code.
Another Kopassus member who is alleged to have tried to kill a key witness, Yaret Imowi, is being detained at the Jayapura military police command.
As political motives may be behind the killing, “these Kopassus officers will probably be charged with other violations,” Sulaiman said without elaborating.
Sulaiman brushed aside allegations that the insubordination charge against the Kopassus members was “part of the scenario,” the Jakarta Post said.
He said the ongoing investigation had not ended, and it is still open for more suspects, the newspaper reported.
Facing increasing pressure at home and from the international community, the Indonesian government set up a national commission of inquiry.
The commission had recommended that the military police carry out further investigation of the suspects believed to be responsible.
West Papua, bordering Papua New Guinea, was a Dutch colony, like Indonesia. In the 1960s the Indonesians, who had won their own independence from Dutch colonial rule, began fighting to take control of West Papua from the Dutch.
The province was officially taken over following a controversial 1969 referendum after the Dutch departed following American pressure.
Pro-independence West Papuans call the referendum a sham and say only a small number of men who were intimidated by the Indonesian military were allowed to take part.
Human rights activists accuse Indonesian security forces of abuses in Papua and say thousands of people have died in years of fighting.
Indonesian governments have encouraged the transmigration east of mainly Muslim Asian migrants from the country’s crowded main islands to resource rich West Papua. West Papuans are mainly Melanesian and Christian.
The current Indonesian government has recently granted West Papua more autonomy, allowed its name to be changed from Irian Jaya to Papua and given the province a greater share of revenue from its resources.
