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Belgian Citizens May Have Joined Papua Separatists
JAKARTA, July 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Separatism activities in Irian Jaya province have taken on a different dimension with the intervention of foreigners in the conflict, the Trikora Military command chief said Thursday.
Two Belgian citizens are suspected of having joined the Free Papua Separatist Movement (OPM) on Wednesday, and reports say they might not be the only ones to have done so.
Maj. Gen. Mahidin Simbolon said the two faked a kidnapping by the OPM to purposely join the separatist movement.
"The two, Johan van Der Eynde and M. Phillippe, had been advised by police not to continue their trip to Pasema village, Ilaga subdistrict in Paniai regency, but they ignored the warning.
"Besides, the letter sent by OPM leader Kelly Kwalik, stating that the separatist rebels had abducted the two Belgians and demanding an international dialog to determine the fate of Irian Jaya was fake," the military chief said.
He said he concluded the letter was forged because the signature and stamp on the letter was different from similar documents retrieved from the OPM.
He added that the letter was made before the Belgians reached the Pasema village.
This is not the first time that foreign elements have joined or attempted to assist separatist movements in Indonesia. In 1999, a shipload of military personnel from the Netherlands, aided by several Americans, was blasted off the coast of Ambon in the Malukus.
Muslim Jihad forces said they were attempting to penetrate the Malukus in a bid to bring arms and other support to comrades in response to Christian groups rampaging in the province.
Thousands of Muslims died in the conflict described as indicative of the deep racial and ethnic instability endemic within the Indonesian nation, through which it has suffered during the past five years.
Muslims from throughout the world, including mujahideens from Europe, Asia and Africa, entered the Malukus at the height of the crisis and helped contain several attacks on remote Muslim villages.
They joined the famous Laskar Jihad Wal Sunnah Waljamaah. And numbered close to 2000 before a cleansing operation by the Indonesian army helped reduce that number, sources close to the Jihad told IslamOnline.
Foreign forces were also suspected of involvement in East Timor and a recent murder spree in Kalimantan, the same Jihad sources said Wednesday, adding that there were attempts by foreign groups to further destabilize Indonesia and force its break-up into several smaller republics, with three or four such Christian-led republics in the west, east, north and south of the country.
Meanwhile, Indonesia's provincial authorities have beefed up security around the compound of the giant copper and gold mining company PT Freeport Indonesia in Timika district following threats of an armed attack there on August 1st, the anniversary of the establishment of the Trikora Military Command overseeing Irian Jaya province.
PT Freeport is a vital project shoring up Indonesia's image within the international community.
Mimika Military District chief Lt. Col. Jamaluddin separately said that his office was monitoring security developments in the regency.
Jamaluddin said that the two areas in Timika that needed close observation were Banti and Tsinga, where Free Papua Movement gunmen have often been spotted.
Additional reporting by Kazi Mahmood
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