The New Generation Papua Besena-part of the Papua Besena Movement initiated by Dame Josephine Abaija, yesterday held a press conference to air their views on the recent police related killings in central province.
In light of the recent police related killings and alleged ill treatment by police in central province, a new generation Papua Besena Movement has emerged…and they are disgusted and outraged by the acts of law enforcement officers and have called for action.
The Papuan Community social action advocacy group says the objective of their movement remains since its birth 50 years ago.
“Today marks the 17th day after the shooting of late Billy Iru and the 15th day for the late Emmanuel Ivangai’s untimely death and we cannot simply allow these incidents to be pushed aside unforgotten and we intend to continue to be a voice for the Papuan people.”
“Stop police brutality, stop deaths in custody, stop land grabbing, stop this bias distribution of development budget,” said New Generation Papua Besena Chairman, Peter Sam.
In a conference yesterday, the NGPB with the support of the initiator – Dame Josephine Abaijah condemned the killings of the two young men from Central Province. Dame Josephine who was absent at the conference joined the rest of the group via zoom.
“I want all the men, especially those going into parliament to stand up for the rights of the Papuan people, that is my main concern, I want Papuan men to rise up and lead the Papuans, at the moment I don’t any of such,” Dame Josephine Abaijah said.
NGPB also expressed that they are demanding answer to similar outstanding cases of police brutality.
Chairman, Peter Sam said one such case is the shooting that occurred in Hanuabada village back in 2015.
“I don’t know if the case is still being investigated, we have not heard anything about the case but those are some of the incidents that are happening to the people of Papua, Central and Motu-Koita, right in the midst of our villages”
Joining the panel of the new generation Papua Besena was Rhoda Vere, a 37-year-old mother and recent victim of police brutality.
Rhoda was attacked by a man who claimed to be a police officer on her way back to her village.
“The situation actually started from a traffic infringement caused by the suspect. In the midst of that, my car was shot at by a passenger in the 10-seater and I reacted to it but drove off and the driver came, pulled me out of the car and started assaulting me.”
“He hit me so bad, that my face bled, my ears bled and I almost fainted”
“I kept asking him to stop and saying that I would call the cops but he mentioned that he was the cop and that I had nothing else to do”
Rhoda has reported her case to the police and has been summoned to an interview with the Boroko Police.
While the objective of the Papua Besena movement stands for a separatist movement politically, the new generation group say they stand for the people of Papua.
Political Strategic Advisor, Keith Cook, said in terms of political might, the weight that they carry in parliament is still very lopsided.
“Just for the sake of comparison between the two different territories, if you take the representation from the Papuan Region as compared to the representation from the New Guinea side of things in parliament itself is hugely disproportional.”
“What we’re looking at now is a free for all assault, murder, intimidation, harassment, land grabbing, you can name it. And the reason why that has emerged is because there is no leadership”
