Jayapura – Police early Wednesday motning pulled down and confiscated four Bintang Kejora (Morning Star) flags of the separatist Free Papua Organization (OPM) which unidentified people had raised at four different spots in Nabire.
Nabire District Police Chief Adjunct Senior Commissioner Rianto said the outlawed flags were apparenly hoisted as the town was in a total blackout due to heavy rain.
He said two of the flags were found fluttering in front of Nabire Regional Legislative Assembly building and two others in ooutside the Nabire district admnistration office.
"The perpetrators remain at large but we have questioned five security guards from the Nabire district administration office, the Nabire Regional Legislative Assembly and the Nabire tourist office as witnesses," Rianto said.
He said the flags were discovered and lowered at 5 am by police officers on patrol duty.
Wednesday morning's incident was the third to have happened in Papua in less than a month.
On September 17, a group of unidentified locals also raised the separatist OPM flag at Timika's Kwamki Lama square but it was then taken down again before police arrived.
Again on September 23, or less than a week afterward, another group of people hoisted the Bintang Kejora flag again before dozens of others at Cemara street in Timika's Kwamki Baru subdistrict at a sport only about 100 meters from a police precinct.
According to Wikipedia free encyclopedia, the morning star flag represented the territory of West New Guinea from December 1, 1961 until October 1, 1962 when the territory came under administration of the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA).
The flag is commonly used by the West Papuan population including OPM supporters to rally self-determination, human rights support and is usually raised on December 1 each year in defiance of Indonesian domestic laws.
The flag consists of a red vertical band along the hoist side, with a white five-pointed star in the center. The flag was for the first time raised on December 1, 1961 and used until the United Nations became the territory's administrator on October 1, 1962.