Paul – The West Papua immigration office insists that it will take firm action against foreign journalists trying to cover the elections in West Papua.

This was emphasised by Manokwari Class II Non-TPI Immigration Office West Papua representative Bugie Kurniawan at a meeting on foreign surveillance at the Bintuni Bay regency on Wednesday April 10.

“We will act firmly if there are foreign media [journalists] reporting on April 17. Report them to us if there are foreigners covering TPS [polling stations], we will secure and deport those concerned and enter their names on the banned list”, he asserted.

Kurniawan continued saying that the immigration office is coordinating with the General Elections Supervisory Board in dealing with foreign journalists reporting in West Papua.

“Firm measures must be taken because we’re coordinating with the Bintuni Bay regency Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu)”, he said.

Kurniawan added that so far there has not been any information on foreign media reporting during the elections in Bintuni Bay regency.

[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Wartawan Asing Dilarang Meliput Pemilu Di Papua Barat”.]

Source: https://kumparan.com/balleonews/wartawan-asing-dilarang-meliput-pemilu-di-papua-barat-1qrUvP23dKN