PAPUA – The Spokesperson of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), Sebby Sambom, emphasized that the increasingly massive escalation of attacks in Yahukimo and several other conflict points in the Land of Papua are a series of planned military operations. Operations launched by the TPNPB, are not merely spontaneous actions to demonstrate existence in the eyes of the international community, but rather a systematic implementation of the long-planned independence struggle agenda.
According to Sebby, the attacks occurring in Yahukimo, Ndugama, Puncak Jaya, Intan Jaya, to Sorong, Maybrat, are a concrete form of implementation of the TPNPB-OPM resolution held in Biak in 2012.
In that summit, a grand strategy called the staged revolutionary war and the total revolutionary war was agreed upon. This strategy is carried out as a form of resistance against what is called the illegal occupation by Indonesian security authorities in the Land of Papua.
"It is not just to raise the existence of the TPNPB, but it is part of an agenda where the TPN already has an agenda according to the TPNPB-OPM summit resolution in Biak in 2012 where one of them is the total revolutionary war to fight the illegal occupation of the Indonesian military in the Land of Papua," said Sebby Sambom in his statement.
Furthermore, he explained that the phase currently taking place is the staged revolutionary war. In this phase, every TPNPB unit that has personnel and weaponry readiness is instructed to continue moving forward. This step is taken to keep the fire of revolution burning among the Papuan people while waiting for the right momentum to carry out a comprehensive attack or total revolution.
For the TPNPB, the choice to take up arms is a principle of final self-defense or last born fight against the dispossession of natural resources and the violence experienced by the indigenous Papuan people.
Sebby also warned that the situation currently occurring has not yet reached the peak of military operations. He stated that the revolutionary war, which was officially announced since July 2017 by Major General Lekagak Lenggen in Yambi, is only the beginning.
"Indonesia should not think that the war happening now is the revolutionary war, not yet. This is preparation for the total revolutionary war," he asserted.
According to him, the total revolution will only begin if there is a general declaration from the central command stating that all regions must move simultaneously to expel the presence of the Indonesian military. ***