Hostages
freed, hunt for captors goes on
Ina Parlina, Tama Salim and Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta
Post, Jakarta/Jayapura | Headlines | Sat, September 19 2015, 6:25 PM
The government has announced that two Indonesians taken
hostage in the jungles of Papua New Guinea (PNG) have been released with the
help of the neighboring country’s authorities.
Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said on Friday that the
two Indonesians, 28-year-old Ladiri, alias Sudirman, and 29-year-old Badar,
were released following negotiations backed up by a PNG military presence on
Thursday night and were subsequently handed over to the Indonesian Consulate
General in Vanimo, PNG.
“Let me take this opportunity on behalf of the Indonesian
government to once again thank the government of PNG, and all other parties
involved, for their cooperation and assistance in securing the release of the
hostages,” Retno said in a press briefing in Jakarta on Friday.
Retno said the hostages were released around 7:30 p.m. at a
village in Victoria Mountain, PNG, on Thursday.
The minister said she had been in intensive communications
with the PNG foreign minister and the country’s military commander, as well as
the team on the ground in Vanimo.
Retno said she had spoken with the two men early on Friday
to confirm that they were indeed in good health.
The two loggers were escorted by the Indonesian Consul
General Elmar Lubis to the border area of Skouw-Wutung before being handed over
to the Papua Military Regional Command (Kodam) XVII/Cenderawasih at around 1
p.m. local time on Friday.
The two will undergo a medical checkup before they return to
their families. The Papua Police are also scheduled to question them.
The hostage release operation led by PNG’s negotiation team
involved about 100 PNG military personnel.
“There were neither demands nor a shoot-out during the
release,” Elmar said.
Retno went on to say that the government was looking to
identify the perpetrators of the “criminal and inhuman act” in the hope that
they would soon be caught and prosecuted. The abductors remain at large following
the rescue operation.
She indicated that the armed group responsible for the
abduction of the two men was affiliated with a network of activists that had
been advocating for the resolution of human rights violations in Papua.
“This incident has shown the world the extent of human
rights violations and criminal acts that these groups have committed. Indonesia
hopes that the perpetrators will soon be captured and processed according to
the rule of law,” Retno said.
However, later on Friday at the State Palace, after meeting
with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, Retno declined to provide more details
regarding the kidnappers although she said they had been identified.
Retno said she would release details about the hostage
takers after all information had been verified.
She said the President had also ordered an investigation to
discover the motive behind the kidnapping.
Less than four hours before the PNG authorities secured the
release of the hostages on Thursday night, Jokowi spoke on the phone with PNG
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, saying that Indonesia was ready to assist PNG in speeding
up their release.
“I am worried about the safety of the two Indonesians being
held hostage. I hope PNG authorities will continue the flow of information
regarding progress from the field,” Jokowi told O’Neill.
Last week, the kidnappers, previously thought to be a
splinter group of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), took the two men across the
border into PNG following a shooting incident in Skofro hamlet in Keerom, about
an hour’s drive from the border between PNG and Indonesia, in which another
logger, Kuba Marmahu, was injured.
The group reportedly demanded the exchange of the hostages
for two prisoners detained by the Keerom Police on minor drug charges, a demand
the Indonesian government flatly rejected.
The police and the Indonesian Military (TNI) claimed that
the group was part of the OPM under Jeffry Pagawak.
“Jeffry’s group is a new criminal group that has created
terror in Jayapura and Keerom,” Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw
said.
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