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Tragedy struck in Indonesia’s volatile Papua region on Monday when armed assailants attacked a helicopter, fatally shooting the New Zealand pilot at the controls. Miraculously, the two healthcare workers and two children on board were spared and released unharmed.
Faizal Ramadhani, head of Papua’s joint security peace force, reported that Glen Malcolm Conning, a pilot for Indonesian aviation company PT Intan Angkasa Air Service, was shot and killed by alleged West Papua Liberation Army fighters after landing in Alama, a remote village in Central Papua’s Mimika district. The attackers are believed to be linked to the Free Papua Movement’s armed faction.
After the fatal shooting, the gunmen unexpectedly released the Indigenous Papuan passengers, allowing them to escape the carnage. But in a deliberate act of destruction, they then set fire to the plane, reducing it to ashes. He said.
‘All passengers were safe because they were local residents of Alama village,’ said Ramadhani, adding that the village is in a mountainous district that can be reached only by helicopter. A joint security force was deployed to search for the attackers, who ran into the dense jungle.
New Zealand’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement late Tuesday confirming the tragic death of Glen Conning, and revealed that consular officials in Jakarta are collaborating with local authorities to piece together the events surrounding the helicopter pilot’s fatal shooting.
Sebby Sambom, spokesperson for the West Papua Liberation Army, claimed to have no knowledge of the incident, telling The Associated Press that he had not received any reports from his fighters about the pilot’s killing.
‘But, if that happens, it was his own fault for entering our forbidden territory,’ Sambom said. ‘We have released warnings several times that the area is under our restricted zone, an armed conflict area that is prohibited for any civilian aircraft to land.’
Sambom called on Indonesian authorities to stop all development in Papua until the government is willing to negotiate with the rebels, and ‘if anyone disobeys, they must bear the risk themselves.’
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The Papua region, a former Dutch colony in western New Guinea, has long been plagued by tensions between Indigenous Papuans and Indonesian security forces, with clashes escalating over the past year, resulting in the loss of dozens of lives among rebels, security personnel, and civilians.
Monday’s killing was the latest violence against New Zealand nationals in the Papua region.
February 2023 saw the dramatic abduction of Philip Mark Mehrtens, a pilot from Christchurch working for Susi Air, by Egianus Kogoya, a regional commander of the Free Papua Movement.
Papua and West Papua’s eastern provinces, characterized by their rugged mountain terrain, rely heavily on air travel as the sole practical means of accessing many areas, which are cut off from the rest of the world by their remote location.
In 2020, seven employees of PT Freeport Indonesia, including a New Zealand miner, Graeme Thomas Wall from Ngaruawahia, were attacked by gunmen in a parking area in Tembagapura, a mining town. Wall was shot in his chest and died.
Papua became part of Indonesia in 1969 following a controversial UN-backed referendum, widely regarded as a sham. Since then, the resource-rich region, comprising six provinces, has been plagued by a persistent low-level insurgency.
Papua and West Papua’s eastern provinces, characterized by their rugged mountain terrain, rely heavily on air travel as the sole practical means of accessing many areas, which are cut off from the rest of the world by their remote location.
