Papua Activist Filep Karma Found Dead in Jayapura

Liputan6.com, West Papua - Papua independence activist, Filep Karma, was found dead on Bse G Beach, Jayapura, Tuesday morning (1/11/2022), at around 07.00 WIT.

Chief of North Jayapura District Police, Yahya Rumra confirmed the discovery of a body found by residents on the Bse G Beach who was suspected to be Filep Karma, based on the investigation.

"To make sure, we are still waiting for confirmation from the family," he said, quoted from Antara.

Filep Karma, whose full name is Filep Jacob Semuel Karma, was born on August 15, 1959, in Biak Papua.

He is a Papua independence activist who on December 1, 2004, participated in raising the Bintang Kejora (Morning Star) flag at a ceremony in Jayapura. For his actions, Filep Karma was accused of treason and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Karma grew up in an upper-class family that was active in local politics. His father, Andreas Karma, was a Dutch-educated civil servant who continued to work for the post-independence Indonesian government. Andreas was the former major of Wamena, while Constant Karma, one of Filep's cousins, served as the former deputy governor of Papua.

Filep Karma also had his education in Solo, Central Java, before becoming a civil servant like his father.

In 1997, he went to study in Manila, Philipines for a year at the Asian Institute of Management, but he did not finish his studies.

Continuing the case, Chief of Jayapura City Police Commander Victor Mackbon said his party was cooperating with the Papua Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM Papua) to investigate the cause of his death.

"Partnering with the Papua Human Rights Commission can make the case more transparent," said Commander Victor Mackbon, Tuesday (1/11/2022).

Mackbon admitted that the police were still investigating the case, considering that the victim was found dead at around 05.00 WIT this morning. At that time, residents wanted to dive to catch fish, then accidentally found the victim sprawled with a swollen body on the shoreline.

From the results of the identification, the victim was known as Filep Karma (62), a resident of Dok V, North Jayapura District, Jayapura City, and the body has now been taken to the funeral home in the Upper Dock V area.

Meanwhile, the victim's physical examination was only carried out through an external post-mortem.

"The team of doctors at Bhayangkara Hospital has done an external post-mortem, but there were no signs of violence," said Mackbon.

He added, after informing the family, they refused to conduct an autopsy on the victim's body, which was confirmed in the autopsy refusal statement.

The statement was made to anticipate unwanted things in the future. From the statement of the family, it was revealed that the last communication with the victim was on Thursday (27/10/2022).

"The family revealed that the victim left the house with the intention of wanting to dive to catch fish," said Mackbon.

Regarding the results of the investigation about the cause of Filep's death, there is no further information from the police.

Writer: Safinatun Nikmah