Jayapura – The Jayapura city municipal police arrested Buchtar Tabuni and Bazoka Logo along with five others for attacking police officers in the Heram district of Jayapura on Thursday March 24.
Tabuni and Logo are members of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) which his chaired by Benny Wenda.
"Correct, Buchtar Tabuni and Bazoka Logo along with five other people were arrested", said Papua regional police chief Inspector General Mathius D Fakiri in an SMS message on Thursday.
Police officers assaulted
Jayapura city municipal police chief Senior Commissioner Gustav Urbinas explained that the seven were arrested for assaulting police officers.
According to Urbinas, police personnel initially received information that Tabuni and Logo were holding a private meeting at Tabuni's residence.
Because there were suspicions that the meeting conflicted with the state ideology, First Brigadier Dedi Hermawan went to Tabuni's home to make an appeal [for the meeting to stop].
The move however in fact ended in the seven attacking Hermawan. "The perpetrators were holding a private meeting, when the police officer arrived and an attack took place against the officer", said Urbinas.
When police tried to arrest Tabuni, they encountered resistance and they became involved in a fist fight with the police officers.
"There were two of our officers who were also hit by the group, but all of them are okay", he said.
Urbinas also asserted that the seven will not be detained but will be released immediately after being questioned.
The ULMWP is one of two organisations cited by former Indonesian police chief General Tito Karnavian as being the masterminds behind the rioting in Jayapura city and Jayawijaya in 2019.
The other organisation is the West Papua National Committee (KNPB).
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Nekat Pukul Anggota Polisi di Papua, 2 Tokoh UMLWP Ditangkap".]
