Indonesian Army Commander General Agus Subiyanto said the separatist group had an agenda to thwart the regional elections in the West Papua region.

Agus conveyed this in a meeting with Commission 1 of the Indonesian Parliament. Agus said the agenda to thwart the Pilkada was to delegitimize the Republic of Indonesia and seek international attention.

“In the West Papua region, terrorist separatist groups have been observed to have an agenda of thwarting the regional elections to delegitimize the Republic of Indonesia and seek international attention,” said Agus.

He said that in the March 2024 period, terrorist separatist group actions occurred in seven regions, namely Maybrat (South West Papua Province), Puncak, Puncak Jaya, Intan Jaya (Central Papua Province), Nduga, Yahukimo, Bintang Mountains (Mountain Papua Province).

“The increase in separatist actions is influenced by the upcoming simultaneous elections, the presence of legislative candidates or candidate pairs who are affiliated with separatist groups. If they lose the vote, there is a possibility that they will carry out greater security disturbances,” he said.

In his presentation, Agus said that the Indonesian Army’s Strategic Intelligence Agency had mapped 15 provinces with a high level of vulnerability during the 2024 simultaneous regional elections. Six of them are in Papua.

Meanwhile, the other nine provinces are Aceh, DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, Southeast Sulawesi, North Sulawesi, Maluku and North Maluku.

Agus explained that each province has different types of vulnerabilities. Starting from potential conflicts over racial issues or clashes between fanatical supporters.