Reiner Brabar, Jayapura – Terror and intimidation against Papuan students continue to occur every year, as do acts of racism. These acts of terror are the way the authorities curb democratic space and human rights for Papuan students.
This also shows the violence and state crimes against the Papuan people, especially after Papuan students in the Balinese provincial capital of Denpasar were sent packages containing rotten pig's heads on Friday June 6.
It also shows that racism and the use of terror are still practiced and nurtured in ways like this. Therefore, the Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) is urging the Balinese police to immediately investigate the case. This was conveyed in a statement by the Bali AMP that was received by Suara Papua on Tuesday June 10.
Bali AMP Chairperson Yuno Tagi said that since the incident in which they were sent the packages containing rotting pig's heads on June 6, not a single police officer had come to the rented houses where the packages was sent.
The following day, on June 7 however, two people who claimed to be police officers from the district police (Polres) visited the Papuan students' rented house.
"The first individual had the characteristics of a thug, then there was a tattoo on their left arm, the tattoo reached up to the neck. The second had the manner of a police officer but was not wearing a uniform, just a plain police T-shirt", said Tagi explaining the appearance of the two people who came to the Papuan student's rented house in Bali.
Then said Tagi, the two people claiming to be police officers started asking unreasonable questions. Like asking about the chronology of the incident, but on the contrary they asked for the students' opinions regarding the chronology of the delivery of the packages. Even asking for the full name of the person who made the video when the package containing the rotten pig's head was opened.
"What happened or what is the chronology of the rotten pig's head? Who recorded the video? What's their full name? How many people live in [this] rented house?".
"Where are [the students] from? Wemison Enembe, the person whose name was on this package, do they live in the rented house here or not?", said Tagi imitating their questions.
They questioned the Papuan students but did not provide any information in accordance with the questions asked. "But we didn't answer them", he said. "Because we thought they were unreasonable questions considering what had happened", he said.
The name Wemison Enembe, which was asked about by the two people claiming to be police officers, was the name of the person one of the packages was addressed to. The students also admitted to knowing the address of the two people who claimed to be police officers and came to their rented house.
Tagi said that the actions of the two people were acts of intimidation and terror that violate Indonesian law.
"Where based on Article 335 of the KUHP [Criminal Code] it state that anyone who intentionally and without the right or who exceeds the limits of their authority, with words or actions, threatens another person by committing violence against that person or another person, faces a maximum prison sentence of one year and four months or a maximum fine of 4.5 million rupiah".
Therefore, he said, it is not permissible to arbitrarily visit people's homes and ask unreasonable questions.
"So from this we ask that the police to immediately investigate the perpetrators of terror and intimidation against students studying in Bali. Because terror and intimidation like this are done intentionally and are planned to disturb the mental and physical health of Papuan students in Bali".
A similar statement was made by AMP National Administrator Yubertinus Gobai who said that they are aware that such actions are acts of terror and intimidation against Papuan students in Bali by reactionary groups and the authorities to scare Papuan students.
"We are aware that there are acts of terror carried out by reactionary groups and the authorities to scare Papuan students so that they are afraid to get involved in critical organisational activities" said Gobi.
Nevertheless, he said, these actions are not comparable to the situation in Papua which is currently on the brink of ecocide and genocide.
"For that reason, we ask the Bali police to immediately investigate and bring to justice the perpetrators of the terror and intimidation of Papuan students in Bali", he asserted.
Chronology of rotten pig's head packages
Earlier on June 6 at 3 pm, two cardboard packages containing rotten pig's heads were sent to two Papuan students' rented houses in Denpasar addressed to friends Wemison Enembe and Yuberthinus Gobay, accompanied by contact numbers and information about the book Papua Bergerak (Moving Papua).
The two packages were delivered to two different places. The one addressed to Enembe was sent to the Nduga rented house on Jalan GG Welirang 1 in front of Kandi Burger while the package addressed to Gobay was sent to the Papua dormitory on Jalan Tukad Yeh Aya Number 52 in South Denpasar.
The contents of both packages were the same, namely rotten pig's heads, a bone and black soil wrapped in black plastic and inserted into a cartoon and filled with large red plastic.
When asked about the packets, Enembe and Gobay claimed they did not order anything, including ordering the Papua Bergerak book listed on the package.
Since no one ordered the packages, the Papuan students took the initiative to open them and check the contents. They turned out to contain a rotten pig's head and bone with soil.
Then, after tracking down the sender's contact number on the package addressed to Gobay with a third-party app, the senders name was Vanawl Apparel. Meanwhile the sender of the package sent to Enembe was Made Budawan.
- Papuan students terrorised by pig's head say it won't silence the voices of truth. Suara Papua – June 7, 2025
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Polisi Bali Didesak Usut Tuntas Teror dan Intimidasi Kepala Babi Busuk".]
