Robert Isidorus, Jayapura – A legal aid activist in Papua has said the recent unrest in Manokwari, West Papua, is a clear indication of efforts to destabilize the region to prompt a need for a stronger security presence. He urged tribal leaders in Papua and West Papua not to allow themselves to be provoked.

"I want to call on the leaders of tribes in Papua, such as the Arfak, the Doreri, the Wamesa, not to easily fall to provocation following the latest development," Yan Christian Warinussy, the director of the Institute for Research, Analysis, and Development of Legal Aid (LP3BH) in Manokwari, said on Thursday.

Yan said he believed it was clear that in the case of the Manokwari incident, in which police shot and killed escaped prisoner Timotius Ap, there were certain sides who wanted horizontal conflict between groups to break out in West Papua.

"The indications are clear since the clash [broke out] between Papuan natives – the Yapen Waropen tribe with members of the Seram ethnic group – in Sorong recently," he said, speaking of another recent conflict in the region. He added that tension between tribal groups was also raised during the Dec. 1 anniversary of the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) and "even appeared in the case of the shooting of Timotius Ap," in Manokwari.

He gave no details about the indications that tribal tension was being provoked, but he said that all tribal leaders should restrain themselves and allow the Manokwari police to investigate the shooting.

"If the family of the victim finds any indications of violations of the law in the case of the shooting to death of Timotius Ap, they have the rights, guaranteed by the prevailing law, to file a legal suit in line with the procedures and legal mechanism that are in force," Yan said.

He said the seeds of conflict were being sown by groups that he said "are professional and trained," and are strongly suspected to come from official state institutions.

"There are individuals among its [state institutions] leaders who want to see West Papua not peaceful," he said.

Yan said the target was clear, "to weaken civilian control and efforts to create a clean and accountable government that would push development in West Papua," by creating an unstable environment for large scale investment in the region, and therefore justifying a stronger security presence there.

Papua Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. I Gede Sumerta Jaya said the Manokwari city police on Dec. 4 received information that Timotius Ap, also known as Arnold Ap, who had escaped from jail on Sept. 16, was at his in-laws' home on Jalan Baru Manokwari.

When police came to arrest him, the suspect fled on a motorcycle and was chased until the Maripi beach, where he attempted to shoot at the police personnel using a home-assembled handgun. Police shot to immobilize him but hit him in the waist. Timotius, who had been jailed for theft, rape and other crimes, died not long after.

The next day, a protest march took place in Manokwari. Crowds engaged in vandalism and arson and police used teargas to disperse the crowd.