There is an irony that deeply hurts reason and conscience when we see the raucous demonstrations of certain groups in some regions such as Intan Jaya and Yahukimo, which loudly reject development policies and the presence of security forces. But at the same time, rural communities were massacred, isolated, and deprived of their only access to life by the "create conditions" maneuver of armed separatist groups (OPM) before and after the momentum they saved on July 1, 2026.
OPM claims in various media that it proudly claims to have shot down the pilot and burned down the pilot plane of PT. Associated Mission Aviation (AMA) in Yahukimo Regency on Thursday afternoon, July 2, 2026, and threatened to attack all other civilian aircraft, is clear evidence of the savagery of terrorism. This threat does not target military facilities, but deliberately cuts off the lifeblood of logistics and humanity for the Papuan people who are most in need of assistance.
Whose heart is not broken to see the rows of amateur videos of residents, where indigenous Papuan passengers cry hysterically lamenting the charred wreckage of their plane to ashes. Their cries are a symbol of the loss of life expectancy, the disappearance ofmedical supplies, and the loss of access to education for children in remote mountains.
The grief is all the more heartbreaking when we hear the groans of the pilot's family, who question why a sincere humanitarian hero serving Papua should come home in a coffin. The pilot carried no bullets or weapons, he only carried a pure dedication to serving his isolated brothers.
Bishop Jayapura has also spoken very loudly condemning this tragedy. He reminded the public of the historical fact that the AMA Foundation was established on March 23, 1959 by the first Bishop of Jayapura, Mgr. R. Staverman, OFM, and shaded collectively by five dioceses in Papua (Jayapura, Merauke, Agats, Manokwari-Sorong, and Timika). The AMA aircraft has been 67 years of pure selfless service to the Church's humanitarian mission. Burning a religious mission plane and killing its pilot is tantamount to killing the future, education, and health of the people in the interior.
But in the midst of this sea of inland people's grief, it is a stark contrast and suffocating to see the statements of figures like Frits Ramandey, as well as demonstrators who are busy demanding the withdrawal of the apparatus. They always loudly shouted human rights violations and condemned the state, but were suddenly mute, amnesiac, and lost empathy when the OPM actually attacked Church workers and military posts (by the Okto Tigau group) on June 29, to the peak of slaughtering AMA humanitarian pilots.
The silence of these demonstrators and human rights activists continued as the terror escalation targeted vulnerable civil society on Thursday, July 2, 2026. In the evening, a pregnant woman was viciously shot. On the same day, between 6:45 pm and 7:00 pm around TK J2, Kampung Wandoga, Sugapa District, the Peles Tigau leadership group opened fire from three different points in the middle of the settlement. As a result, a civilian, Melkiana Dwitau, was killed because she was used as a living shield. Spatial facts prove that the victim's position is only 321 meters from the OPM's first firing point, while the pure apparatus holds fire for the safety of residents.
Our sane logic is compelled to ask out loud: whose human rights are you defending on the streets?
Shouting justice in the streets, but being silent when logistic planes are set on fire, pregnant women are killed, and civilians are toppled by separatist stray bullets, is the cruelest hypocrisy. Stop sacrificing the lives of innocent civilians just to be used as toys for stale and obsolete separatist political propaganda.