Larius Kogoya, Jayapura, Jubi – Reinhart Kmur, a legal aid officer from the Papua Legal Aid Foundation, (LBH Papua), says that the formation of three new Indonesian Military (TNI) battalions in three regencies in Papua has the potential to create human rights violations.
He said that this concern arose because so far the policy pattern for resolving conflict in the Land of Papua has always prioritised a security approach.
According to Reinhart Kmur, based on information gathered by the Papua LBH, the TNI has officially formed three new battalions in three regencies in Papua, namely in the regencies of Biak Numfor, Supiori and Waropen.
He said that the three battalions are new Territorial Development Battalion (TP) units which are prepared to carry out tasks in Papua supporting food security, infrastructure development, public health and economic empowerment to improve welfare and security in Papua.
"(The presence of) the three battalions has the potential to create violence and perpetuate the practice of human rights violations in Papua, because the amount of violence (which is committed by security forces) in Papua is always directly proportional to the implementation of security and armed approaches through military operations", said Kmur in a short message sent to Jubi in Jayapura, Papua, on Thursday January 8.
Kmur said that by using the authority as regulated in Article 100 of Law Number 39/1999 on Human Rights, he strongly criticised the addition of three new battalions in Papua Province.
"Additional military soldiers in Papua will only have implications for human rights violations and will add to the long list of human rights violations", he said.
Kmur said that the formation of the battalion would make people afraid of the presence of TNI personnel because the presence of a new battalion will of course be accompanied by the mobilisation of military soldiers.
"[This situation] is very dangerous in the midst of problems with the TNI institution, namely regarding professionalism and incidents of human rights violations", he said.
He said that the formation of new battalions on the pretext of supporting food security programs, infrastructure development, economic empowerment and other issues clearly violates the main duties and functions of the TNI in accordance with statutory regulations.
Earlier, the Kankain Karkara Byak Cultural Institute (KKB) together with tribal chiefs (Mananwir Bar Wamurem, Manfasfas Bar Wamurem and Manfun Kawsa Byak) stated that they reject the placement of TNI soldiers from the TP 858, TP 859 and TP 860 infantry (Yonif) battalions in the Byak traditional territory, Biak Numfor regency and Supiori regency, Papua.
This statement was conveyed to Jubi on Tuesday January 6 via telephone by the Kankain Karkara KKB and tribal chiefs who claim to represent the entire Byak traditional community through Byak Tribal Traditional Council chairperson Apollos Sroyer.
Sroyer said that the deployment of personnel from the TP 858, TP 859 and TP 860 infantry battalions in Biak Numfor, Supiori regency, began on November 29-30, 2025. Military personnel arrived in Biak using ships belonging to the Indonesian Navy (TNI AL).
"This shocked communities with the presence of the TNI battalion personnel. The approximate number of personnel from the three battalions deployed in Biak was 1,700", said Sroyer.
According to Sroyer, the TNI personnel are stationed at two different points. The TP 858 battalion is stationed in the Wamure or the East Biak traditional region and the TP 859 and TP 860 battalions are stationed in Supiori regency.
"(The) presence of (TNI) personnel is very worrying, and really disrupts the activities of indigenous communities in Biak Numfor and Supiori regencies, which are Byak traditional territories", he said.
He said that in general the public did not know that military personnel would be deployed at these locations. Only certain members of the public held limited meetings and closed meetings with the TNI, then released hundreds of thousands to hectares of land for the construction of TNI posts or headquarters.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Pembentukan Tiga Batalyon Di Papua Dinilai Berpotensi Menciptakan Pelanggaran HAM".]
