[AFP]
Twelve suspected Islamic militants taken into custody in a southern district of Indonesia’s troubled Papua region had planned to attack a local archbishop and police stations there, authorities said Tuesday.
The suspects arrested in Papua’s Merauke regency on Friday and Sunday were linked to a cell of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, an Indonesian militant network affiliated with the so-called Islamic State (IS) group, police said.
Indonesian authorities had blamed JAD for suicide attacks that targeted churches in other parts of the Muslim-majority country in March 2021 and May 2018.
“The targets were the bishop and police stations in Merauke,” Untung Sangaji, Merauke police chief, told BenarNews.
There was a box in front of them and they were holding up posters appealing for donations. One thousand rupiah for Bishop Mandagi, the posters said, referring to Archbishop Petrus Canisius Mandagi of Merauke.
However, their effort was not in support of the bishop; it was a sarcastic stunt criticizing Archbishop Mandagi.
The local Church is set to receive billions of rupiah after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a controversial palm oil company, PT Tunas Sawa Erma, part of the Korindo Group. The funds raised will be presented to the Diocese of Merauke. The archbishop shouldn t be cooperating with this firm. It s scandalous that the Church conspires with a company that has brought suffering to Papua, Waine told UCA News.
Indonesian archdiocese s MoU with palm oil firm sparks outrage
Korindo Group has been accused of destroying a huge swath of rainforest to pave the way for a plantation
An aerial view of fires at a palm oil plantation concession of Dongin Prabhawa, a subsidiary of the Korindo Group in Papua. (Photo: Greenpeace Indonesia)
Merauke Archdiocese in Indonesia s Papua province is set to receive billions of rupiah through a collaboration with an environmentally controversial palm oil company, sparking strong protests from local Catholics.
Protesters said they felt marginalized by the presence of the palm oil company, PT Tunas Sawa Erma, and its deforestation, saying this cooperation showed that the archdiocese is insensitive to their struggles.