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Activists call for transparent investigation into Tolikara case
Jakarta Post - July 25, 2015
National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) member Natalius Pigai told The Jakarta Post on Friday that the National Police's main objective now must be to track down the individuals responsible for setting fire to a number of kiosks, which led to a fire that eventually burned down a musholla (small mosque).
He also emphasized that the public must remember that the acts were conducted by individuals and were not a representation of the Evangelical Church of Indonesia (GIDI) or Papua as a whole. "[The acts in Tolikara] were pure crime. Individuals, not institutions, must take responsibility," Pigai said.
The National Police announced on Thursday that they had named two GIDI members, HK and JW, as suspects for riot instigation and vandalism.
Tensions between Christian and Muslim groups in Tolikara escalated into a riot on the first day of Idul Fitri, resulting in the death of a teenager and injuring many others.
The authorities said that tensions were triggered by a letter from the Tolikara chapter of the GIDI, demanding that local Muslims not carry out Idul Fitri prayers on July 17.
The letter was said to have been canceled but it was taken as an order by a Christian group that was running a conference near the musholla where the Idul Fitri prayers took place.
The police claimed responsibility for shootings that occurred during the riot, saying they had lost control of the angry mob and needed to apply force to calm the situation.
Pigai, who was part of a team from Komnas HAM deployed to Tolikara to investigate the scene, also said that it was imperative for the police force to place sanctions against officers who had fired their weapons during the riot.
"The violence used by officers against civilians is also a violation of rights. The officers must face both internal sanctions and be legally processed so that there can be justice for the victims," he said.
Pigai also questioned whether the Muslim-majority country was more focused on the burning of the kiosks and musholla than on the shootings by the police.
Separately, Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator Haris Azhar questioned the reasoning behind the shootings.
"There was a loss of life due to the shootings. Doesn't the National Police have rules on how to handle riots and masses without the use of firearms?" he told the Post.
Haris noted that Papua was very prone to conflict as rights violations occurred there on a regular basis. He applauded the government's efforts to solve the case but warned that it might create a bias in the Christian-majority province.
"[The government] must take steps to solve all the rights violations that occur in Papua. It would be strange if the Tolikara incident was resolved quickly but not the other problems," he said.
Haris explained that locals may find it unfair if the Tolikara incident was resolved quickly as they may believe the government only tried to resolve the case because it was an alleged attack against the Muslim minority in Tolikara.
Meanwhile, National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti said that the officers who had shot their firearms during the riot were currently undergoing questioning. However, he declined to disclose how many officers were believed to be involved.
"We want to find out whether the shooting was done according to our existing procedures. If it was, there should not be a problem," he said.
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