Indonesian human rights groups have called for an independent investigation into the death of a New Zealand helicopter pilot in a remote part of Papua province earlier this week.

The pilot, identified as Glen Malcolm Conning, was reportedly killed by an armed group shortly after landing in Alama district in Mimika regency on Monday.

Amnesty International Indonesia’s executive director, Usman Hamid, described the killing as a serious violation of humanitarian law and called for an independent probe into the death.

“We urge the Indonesian authorities to immediately investigate this crime to bring the perpetrators to justice, including starting with a forensic examination and autopsy of the victim’s body,” he said.

“The protection of civilians is a fundamental principle that must always be upheld, and the deliberate targeting and killing of civilians is unacceptable,” Usman told BenarNews in a statement.

The Papuan independence fighters and security forces are blaming each other for the attack and have provided conflicting accounts of what happened on the airstrip.

The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) — the military wing of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) — ​​has denied it was responsible.

Suspicions of ‘orchestrated murder’
In a statement, a spokesman, Sebby Sambom said: “We suspect that the murder of the New Zealand helicopter pilot was orchestrated by the Indonesian military and police themselves.”

He alleged that the killing was intended to undermine efforts to negotiate the release of another New Zealand pilot, Phillip Mehrtens, who has been held by the rebel group since February last year.

He said photos showing the pilot’s body and the helicopter without apparent signs of burns contradicted the police’s claims that they were burned.

The photos, which Sambom sent to BenarNews, appear to depict Conning’s body collapsed in his helicopter’s seat, with his left arm bearing a deep gash.

Four passengers who Indonesian authorities said were indigenous Papuans, including a child and baby, were unharmed.

Police said the attackers ambushed the helicopter, forcibly removed the occupants, and subsequently executed Conning. They said in a statement that the pilot’s body was burned along with the helicopter.

Responding to the rebel group’s accusations, Bayu Suseno, spokesperson for a counter-insurgency task force in Papua comprising police and soldiers, insisted that the resistance fighters were responsible for the pilot’s death.

“The armed criminal group often justify their crimes, including killing civilians, migrants, and indigenous Papuans working as healthcare workers, teachers, motorcycle taxi drivers, and the New Zealand pilot, by accusing them of being spies,” he told BenarNews.

No response over contradictions
He did not respond to a question about the photos that appear to contradict his earlier claim that Conning’s body was burned with the helicopter.

Sambom said on Monday that if Conning was killed by independence fighters, it was because he should not have been in a conflict zone.

“Anyone who ignores this does so at their own risk. What was the New Zealander doing there? We consider him a spy,” he said.

Bayu said another New Zealand pilot, Geoffrey Foster, witnessed the aftermath of the attack.

Foster approached Conning’s helicopter and saw scattered bags and the pilot slumped in his seat covered in blood, prompting him to take off again without landing, Bayu said.

Executive director of the Papua Justice and Human Integrity Foundation Theo Hesegem expressed concern and condolences for the shooting of the pilot and supported efforts for an independent investigation into the incident.

“There must be an independent investigation team and it must be an integrated team from Indonesia and New Zealand,” he told BenarNews .

Indonesia’s National Human Rights Commission, Komnas HAM, condemned the attack and said such acts undermined efforts to bring peace to Papua.

‘Ensure civilian safety’
“Komnas HAM asks the government and security forces to ensure the safety of civilians in Papua,” said the commission’s chairperson Atnike Nova Sigiro in a statement on Wednesday.

The perpetrators of the attack must be brought to justice, Komnas HAM said.

The attack is the latest by an armed group on aviation personnel in the province where Papuan independence fighters have waged a low-level struggle against Indonesian rule since the 1960s.

Another New Zealand pilot, Phillip Mehrtens, was abducted by insurgents from the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) 18 months ago and remains in captivity.

Mehrtens was seized by the fighters on February 7 in the central highlands of Papua. The rebels burned the small Susi Air plane he was piloting and released the Papuan passengers.

While his captors have released videos showing him alive, negotiations to free him have stalled. The group’s demands include independence for the Melanesian region they refer to as West Papua.

Copyright ©2015-2024, BenarNews. Published with the permission of BenarNews.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The West Papuan resistance movement OPM has blamed the tragic death of a New Zealand helicopter pilot in a remote part of the troubled Melanesian region on Indonesia’s security forces and “every nation supporting barbarity”.

In a statement today, the OPM (Free Papua Organisation) chairman-commander Jeffrey Bomanak claimed his movement had undertaken a “thorough investigation” and unilaterally rejected any implication of responsibility for the death of pilot Glen Conning.

He also expressed sincere apologies to the pilot’s family.

Bomanak said the OPM “respects civilians from Sorong to Merauke” and also from “other parts of the world”.

The Jakarta Post reports that Glen Malcolm Conning, 50, a pilot for PT Intan Angkasa Air Service, was killed yesterday after landing in a remote part of Central Papua province with two Indonesian health workers and two children, all of whom survived.

The Cartenz Peace Taskforce, assembled to deal with Papuan independence fighters, retrieved his body from the remote area and transported it to Timika near the Freeport copper and gold mine, reported the newspaper citing a military statement.

“The body of the pilot has been evacuated from the Alama district to Timika and arrived at 12:50 pm local time. The body is currently at the Mimika General Hospital for an autopsy,” Cartenz spokesman Adjutant Senior Commander Bayu Suseno said.

Mimika police head Adjutant Senior Commander I Komang Budiartha told reporters yesterday that three helicopters had been dispatched for the search effort, according to The Post.

‘Heart-broken’ for loss
RNZ Pacific reports that a statement by Natasha Conning on behalf of his family said he was truly loved by his family and friends, who he had cherished spending time with when he was not flying or being in the outdoors.

“Our hearts are broken from this devastating loss,” she said.

The OPM has been waging a low-level liberation struggle in West Papua against Jakarta since a contested UN-supervised Act of Free Choice vote in 1969 in the former Dutch colony, which has been widely condemned as a sham.

In the OPM statement today, Commander Bomanak said: “From the beginning of the brutal invasion and illegal annexation, our war of liberation is the very defence of our homeland, just as it would be for you, and as it was during WWII.”

The “barbarity” of the Indonesian military and police was well known and “illegally supported by a tyranny of vested interests — geopolitical and trade from every nation with armament exports and a resource industry that steals our natural resources”, Bomanak said.

He said the death of the New Zealand pilot was “another tragic chapter in six decades of international support for Indonesia’s crimes against humanity”.

Bomanak also criticised the New Zealand government for allowing citizens to be employed by the “rogue state”.

NZ hostage pilot
In February 2023, pro-independence fighters took another New Zealand pilot hostage. Phillip Mehrtens, 37, who was captured shortly after landing his plane in the remote mountainous area of Nduga to drop off passengers.

He has been held hostage ever since and has featured in several videos and photographs circulated by his captors.

A spokesperson for the West Papua Action Aotearoa (WPAA) group, former Green MP Catherine Delahunty, said in a statement that the killing of Conning was an “utter tragedy for his family and friends”, adding that her movement was concerned over the killing of any civilians in West Papua.

She also noted that the area of the tragedy was a “conflict zone” and that the Indonesian military had a responsibility for the safety of pilots flying there.

Delahunty said the New Zealand government needed to respond to the dangerous situation “affecting our pilots” by calling on Indonesia to allow the UN Human Rights Commissioner and foreign media into West Papua.

She said the government should stop “sitting on their hands and start negotiating with Indonesia for peace, human rights and self-determination in West Papua”.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has called again for the immediate release of New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens, who has now been held hostage by pro-independence fighters in West Papua for six months.

Speaking in Auckland, Hipkins said Mehrtens — a pilot for the Indonesian airline Susi Air which provide air links to remote communities in Papua — was a much-loved husband, brother, father and son.

He said Mehrtens’ safety was the top priority and the six-month milestone would be a difficult time for the family.

“We will continue to do all we can to bring Phillip home,” he said.

“I want to urge once again those who are holding Phillip to release him immediately. There is absolutely no justification for taking hostages. The longer Phillip is held the more risk there is to his wellbeing and the harder this becomes for him and for his family.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is leading our interagency response and I’ve been kept closely informed of developments over the last six months.”

Hipkins said consular efforts included working closely with the Indonesian authorities and deploying New Zealand consular staff.

The family was being supported by the ministry both in New Zealand and Indonesia, he said.

“I acknowledge this is an incredibly challenging time for them but they’ve continued to ask for their privacy and I thank people for respecting that.”

Police report ‘good health’
Indonesian police say the NZ pilot taken hostage by the pro-independence fighters on February 7 is in good health and negotiations for his safe release are ongoing.

Jubi reported from Jayapura that Papua police chief Inspector General Mathius Fakhiri said on Monday that Mehrtens remained in good health, but he did not expand on how he obtained that information.

General Fakhiri said the security forces were actively closing in on the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) faction led by Egianus Kogoya and were engaged in negotiations to secure the prompt release of the pilot.

“We are currently awaiting further developments as we work to restrict the movement of Egianus Kogoya’s group. The pilot’s overall condition is healthy,” General Fakhiri said.

Tempo reported General Fakhiri as saying the local government was allowing community and church leaders and family members to take the lead on negotiating with Kogoya, the rebel leader holding Mehrtens.

“Our primary concern is the safe rescue of Captain Phillip. This is why we are prioritising all available resources to aid the security forces in negotiations, ultimately leading to the pilot’s safe return without exacerbating the situation,” General Fakhiri said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Indonesia’s former National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) chairperson Ahmad Taufan Damanik says it is difficult to expect Komnas HAM to play a role in freeing the New Zealand pilot Philip Mehrtens held hostage in West Papua.

According to Damanik, who was chair 2017-2022, this is because the current Komnas HAM leadership has taken a position tending to follow the government line and “doesn’t have the courage” to resolve humanitarian problems in Papua.

Damanik cites as an example the “humanitarian pause” agreement that was unilaterally cancelled by Komnas HAM, which triggered an escalation of violence in Papua, including the seizing of the Susi Air pilot by rebels demanding Papuan independence.

The humanitarian pause in Papua was an agreement reached by the Komnas HAM leadership for the 2017-2022 period to temporarily halt armed contact between the conflicting groups in Papua.

“Since they unilaterally cancelled the humanitarian pause without any good reason, as well as the lack of communication between parties, especially with our Papuan friends, it is difficult to expect them to play a role in Papua,” Damanik said in a text message on Friday.

“The one-side cancellation caused anger among those who were pushing for a humanitarian pause in Papua.

“With such a position, it is difficult to expect a strategic role for Komnas HAM. Their position tends to just follow what is being done by the government,” he added.

Communications deadlock
Yet, according to Damanik, by maintaining the independence of its authority, the Komnas HAM could break the communication deadlock between the demands of the hostage takers, — the West Papua National Liberation Army armed wing of the Free Papua Organization (TPNPB–OPM) — and the government.

Moreover, there has been an offer by the TPNPB group led by Egianus Kogoya for the Papua Komnas HAM Representative Office to act as negotiator in the hostage case.

“Including the [Philip Mehrtens] hostage negotiations, the Egianus group asked for the involvement of the Papua representative [office] head’s help. My hope is that the Komnas HAM national is welcomed in Papua, so it is better to provide full support to the Komnas HAM Papua representative office,” Damanik added.

Damanik also hopes that Komnas HAM, which is now headed up by Atnike Nova Sigiro, could be critical of central government policies that are wrong.

“Communicating criticism like this is what we used to do [when I served at Komnas HAM] and there is no need to worry about tension in the relationship [with the government]. That’s normal in relationships between institutions,” said Damanik.

Earlier, Sigiro said that the commission had entrusted all matters related to dealing with the New Zealand pilot’s hostage case to the government, saying they hoped that the case could be resolved peacefully.

Authority ‘with government’
“Authority for dealing with the hostage case is in the government’s hands,” said Sigiro earlier this month.

Mehrtens was taken hostage by the TPNPB on February 7 when his plane was set on fire after landing at the Paro airstrip in Nduga regency, Papua Highlands.

At the time, the plane was transporting five indigenous Papuan passengers. Mehrtens and the five passengers reportedly fled in different directions.

The five Papuans returned to their respective homes while Mehrtens was taken hostage by the pro-independence militants.

Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Tak Terlibat Aktif dalam Upaya Bebaskan Pilot Susi Air, Komnas HAM Dikritik”.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz