JAKARTA (Tabloid Jubi/ West Papua Daily/Pacific Media Watch): The Indonesian State Intelligence Agency (BIN- Badan Intelijen Negara) will form a team called the Papua Peace Task Force to resolve the problems in Papua peacefully, its chairman Sutiyoso said.
“BIN will put forward a peaceful settlement, therefore we are forming the Papua Peace Task Force,” said Sutiyoso.
He explained that the Task Force is composed of representatives from BIN and also involves some members of the Army Special Forces (Kopassus) who have stayed for a long time in Papua.
According to him, "separatism" [pro-independence] can be ended by prioritising the fulfillment of public welfare in the region.
“We talk about separatism in Papua and Aceh (the Meeting with Commission I). So the discussion is not finished but it is clear that it must be serious in handling with separatists,' he said.
He explained "separatist movements" were everywhere.
According to him, separatism acts were spread out in small groups within Papua, and they should be taken seriously.
However, Sutiyoso said a persuasive approach must be prioritised by the Indonesian government.
He added that if the approach was neglected by the separatist group, the Task Force must then take action accordingly.
The budget proposed by BIN amounts to Rp3.7 trillion (NZ$392.6 million) for 2016, including operations earmarked in various regions.
He believes that the commission would fight for the submission of the budget to bolster the performance of the agency.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence.
Pacific Media Watch
