Jakarta – Thousands of settlers have fled from Wamena town in Irian Jaya (West Papua), following last months ethnic rioting that left at least 31 people killed and dozens badly wounded.
The exodus from Jayawijaya regency has brought activities to a standstill at local state schools, hospitals and government offices, because just about all civil servants from the region have left, Antara reported yesterday.
Jayawijaya regency spokesman Jack Rumbekwan and Wamena Senior High School 1 principal Benyamin Hubi said the town is now safe following the October 6 killings, but the civil servants arent coming back.
They said education, governmental activities, development and social/medical services have all ground to a halt, not because civil servants are lazy, but because they have fled. Thousands of students at elementary, junior and senior high schools in Wamena are now on holiday because there are almost no teachers left.
The non-Papuan civil servants left the region in small aircraft supplied by the Mission Aviation Fellowship, Trigana Air Service, Manunggal Air Service, and the Air Force.
Rumbekwan said it wasnt only non-Papuans who skedaddled after the riots. He said non-Jayawijaya Papuans from the cities of Sorong, Manokwari, Serui, Biak, Fakfak, Merauke, Nabire and Jayapura also suffered during the bloody October attacks and have also left the region and have no intention of going back.
Many of them have already obtained documents from the government permitting them to work in other provinces.
Police have detained several people who were involved in a massacre at Woma village, 7 kilometers east of Wamena.
The suspects have said they know nothing about politics, but were hired by a certain pro-independence group to launch the attack. If police dont settle the problem, there will be a local war in the future, between those who agree with independence and groups that prefer Indonesian unity, said Rumbekwan.
Today there are just a handful of civil servants left in the region. They are all men, while their wives and children have been sent to Jakarta, Sulawesi or other regions.
Hubi predicted that Jayawijaya could soon return to the Stone Age. Although Im a native born in Baliem Valley, I cant do anything [for education] here because all of the other teachers have gone, he said.
Locals with enough money have sent their children to attend lessons in Jayapura or Sorong, Biak, Manokwari and Serui. In this current condition, Im afraid this region will be back in the Stone Age in the next few years, said Hubi.