Jakarta – Students prevented police entering a campus in Irian Jaya Monday to investigate a shooting at a pro-independence rally amid fears over the honesty of the probe, witnesses said. More than 80 students stood guard at the Cendrawasih (UNCEN) University campus where law student Steven Suripatty was shot and seriously wounded Friday during a rally.
"The students wont allow the police in because they cant trust them," UNCEN student Lawrence Wantik, 21, told AFP by phone. The students had been staging a week-long pro-independence demonstration on the campus when the shooting incident took place. "How can we be sure there will be no conspiracy against us. They can fabricate any scenario possible to point a finger at the students," added Wantik who lives in the same Catholic dormitory as Suripatty.
Suripatty is in a critical condition with gunshot wounds to the head in Jayapura General Hospital's intensive care unit where student friends barred visits by security forces. "I understand that the police were put in a difficult position but they should realise the psychological state of the students right now. They are very angry and upset," said Paul Baut of the local Legal Aid Institute.
Baut said the students had found more than 10 bullet casings at the site of Friday's shooting, in which a secondary school-girl, Corina Onim, also suffered a gunshot wound in the knee.
Provincial military commander, Major General Amir Sembiring urged UNCEN's senior faculty members to let the police in to investigate the shooting, Antara news agency said. He said an investigation inside the campus was needed to find out from which direction the shots were fired.
"Statements from the military and local press reports have been misleading," said Baut. "There is no correlation between what the students did and what the troops did to them." Baut said the military had cornered the students by saying the shooting came after they had beaten up an intelligence agent and after they showered the troops with rocks.
Jayapura police chief Lt Colonel Silloy said Monday he "regretted the students decision not to let gthe police in." "What we are facing is not merely students but separatists who dont follow the existing law. Some of the students have been brainwashed by the separatists." [A report in the July 6 SMH said that the intelligence agent beaten up by students, Second Sergeant Dahlan, died in hospital on July 4. Students have also taken over the hospital in Jayapura where the two students who were shot on July 3 are being treated - James Balowski.].