Indonesia Highlights: President Jokowi Express Relief As Indonesia Avoids Lockdown | Indonesian National Police Suspected of Human Rights Violations in FPI Deaths | Insurgents Claim Responsibility

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia can get some relief, as the country avoided going into lockdown as it starts giving Covid-19 vaccinations to its people nationwide.

Unfortunately, no such relief is coming for the Indonesian National Police, as the National Commission on Human Rights [Komnas HAM] revealed that it might have used excessively deadly force on the outlawed Islamic Defenders Front or FPI at a shootout outside Jakarta on December 7, 2020.

And insurgents in Papua literally keep the flames of their resistance alive, after they burned down a plane belonging to a missionary organization in the province. Read on for more on these stories:

Kompas.COM/MUHAMMAD NAUFAL An example of a Covid-19 vaccine

President Jokowi Express Relief As Indonesia Avoids Lockdown

President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo has maintained that Indonesia has no need to go into lockdown as the number of Covid-19 cases in the country surged past 800 thousand cases.

The President urged Indonesians to comply with the government’s compulsory Covid-19 vaccination drive, which starts nationwide next week, as doing so is for the common good.

“Anybody who refuses to be vaccinated [for Covid-19] is posing a danger to themselves and others,” he warned. “Vaccinations are needed to build up herd immunity to contain the spread of the coronavirus.”

Indonesia has inked deals to purchase vaccines from the Sinovac, Astrazeneca, Novavax, and Pfizer, as well as other pharmaceutical companies.

Jokowi intends to immunize 182 million, or 70 percent of Indonesians for free, to gain herd immunity against Covid-19. The government estimated that Indonesia will need at least 426 million doses to give 182 million people two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Source:
https://go.kompas.com/read/2021/01/08/230534574/president-jokowi-express-relief-as-indonesia-avoids-lockdown?page=all#page2. 

ANTARA FOTO/Aprillio Akbar Komnas HAM Commissioner Mohammad Choirul Anam shows bullets and other evidence from the police shootout against the police at a toll road outside Jakarta on Monday (28/12/2020). ANTARA FOTO/Aprillio Akbar/foc.

Indonesian National Police Suspected of Human Rights Violations in FPI Deaths

The Indonesian National Police will form a special team to investigate the deaths of six Islamic Defenders Front [ FPI] militants who were killed by the police on December 7, 2020.

“The special team will investigate the National Commission on Human Rights [Komnas HAM] report that investigators committed serious human rights violations, after it determined that four of the militants were already in police custody when officers killed them,” Argo said.

Komnas HAM Commissioner Choirul Anam “found evidence that the police at least made no efforts to minimize loss of life, and at worst committed an unlawful or extrajudicial killing.”

The police and the FPI have different versions of the shootout, which took place at a toll road outside Jakarta. The police’s reconstruction of the incident described how the FPI attacked first and shot at investigators.

But the FPI argued the police’s official version of events, as the group maintained that it does not issue firearms to its members.

The Indonesian government outlawed the FPI on December 30, 2020, more than a month after tensions between authorities and the FPI increased when its chief Rizieq Shihab repeatedly flaunted health protocols after his return from exile in Saudi Arabia last November.

Source:

https://go.kompas.com/read/2021/01/09/023307874/indonesian-national-police-suspected-of-human-rights-violations-in-fpi-deaths. 

Freepik/Ilovehz An illustration of a fire

Insurgents Claim Responsibility For Burning Missionary Plane in Indonesia’s Papua Province

The ongoing insurgency in Papua erupted again in the first week of 2021, after armed insurgents burned a plane belonging to the MAF [ Mission Aviation Fellowship] missionary organization on Wednesday, January 6. No casualties were reported.

The incident occurred in the regency of Intan Jaya, a known battleground between Indonesian military and police personnel and the insurgents since 2020, specifically at the hamlet of Pagamba.

“The plane’s pilot, a US citizen named Alex Luferchek, told us that the insurgents struck after he landed at Pagamba to drop off two people in the village who flew there from the town of Nabire,” said Papua Regional Police spokesman Police Chief Commissioner AM Kamal on Thursday, January 7.

“He said a number of insurgents barged in the plane, ordered Luferchek out with warning shots, and burned the aircraft. Luferchek managed to flee and was kept safe by a priest and a number of local people.”

The insurgents accepted responsibility for the attack. They warned that they “are ready to shoot such light aircraft before if it was suspected of carrying police and military personnel.”

Source: https://go.kompas.com/read/2021/01/09/044609074/insurgents-burn-missionary-plane-in-indonesias-papua-province?page=all#page2