Indonesia never compromises in tackling armed criminal group

Armed Criminal Group attacks, kills Istaka Karya workers in Nduga, Papua, on Dec 2.

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Wiranto stressed that the Indonesian government had never compromised in tackling the armed criminal group in Papua that had killed citizens. Wiranto said this was related to the case of the deaths of 31 workers in the Nduga area of Papua on Dec 2.

"We have never compromised, as our view is not equal for the groups," Wiranto noted at a press conference in Jakarta on Monday.

According to Wiranto, the government's view was to not be equal to the groups that opposed the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) and viewed them as having committed a mistake and had got lost. He remarked that Indonesia, as a democratic country, will accept them again if they had realized and admitted to have been lost.

"Indonesia, as a democratic nation, will accept them if they are aware, but there is no negotiation in this process," he noted.

Wiranto said the Indonesian government had an opportunity to apply a military approach in combating the armed group in Papua. He remarked that the international law allowed the use of weapons if there are groups that oppose the government by using weapons.

He viewed that the armed groups that killed innocent people could not be resisted only through a persuasive step by using words.

"This has been going on for a long time. I have dealt with groups in Aceh, Kalimantan, and Papua. When they held weapons, they felt great," he noted.

He noted that human rights activists must be fair to view and assess the problems in Papua lest the incident of the armed group involving the killing of construction workers in Papua was not said to be a violation of human rights.

Since he viewed that after the incident in Nduga there were no human rights activists who condemned the incident, he called on the nation to jointly defend the country from the armed groups trying to undermine national peace.

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