JAKARTA (Pacific Scoop/Jakarta Globe/Pacific Media Watch): The Indonesian military, or TNI, says it will set up a security post in the Papuan border village of Yakyu, in Merauke district, following a report that soldiers from neighboring Papua New Guinea last week ordered residents there to lower the Indonesian flag.
Brigadier-General Supartodi, the Merauke military commander, said on Friday that the group of 14 uniformed PNG soldiers reportedly entered the village on August 7.
Yakyu is located 1.2 km from the Indonesia-PNG border. PNG authorities have denied the incident.
“In response to this alleged incident, we have decided to build a security post in Yakyu village,” Supartodi said, as quoted by Antara news agency.
Colonel Mohammad Syafei Kasno, of the Cendrawasih Military Command, which oversees the TNI’s operations in Papua, said separately that 10 soldiers had been deployed to the village.
The alleged incident was first reported on Thursday by Suzana Wanggai, the head of the provincial border office, who said that the PNG soldiers had claimed Yakyu village as part of PNG territory.
She noted that while the village lay squarely in Indonesian territory, its residents were from the Mayna clan of the Kanum tribe, who moved to the area in the 1990s from neighboring Weyam village in PNG.
Identity cards
“The people obtained Indonesian identity cards from Merauke district last month,” Suzana said as quoted by Tempo.
Syafei claimed that PNG officials had argued the village was on neutral ground and should hoist the flags of both countries.
However, Colonel Mark Goina of the PNG Defence Force told ABC’s Pacific Beat radio programme that no such incident had ever taken place.
“We have not received any information around PNGDF troops going to Merauke to conduct any form of activity or operation, and therefore we categorically deny any involvement of our service men and women and that information is not true,” he said.
“I confirm there is no Papua New Guinean soldiers in or near Merauke, they are all stationed outside of the border doing their normal border duties.”
Still, he could not say for sure whether Yakyu village lay in Indonesian or PNG territory.
“At this point in time I need to confirm that, we need to confirm that on a map.”
Indonesia celebrates Independence Day on Monday, celebrating its liberation from Dutch colonial rule on August 17, 1945.
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Pacific Media Watch
