New Zealand pilot Philip Mertens has been released from his 594 days of captivity. Although the circumstances of his release were not clear as of Saturday, they had not been clarified until Monday. Mehratins was taken hostage by rebels in Indonesian-controlled West Papua in February 2023, and little has been known about him since. There must have been serious negotiations with the rebels who had rejected sovereign statehood (possibly later to unite with Papua New Guinea) and Indonesian rule since 1969.
About six hundred days ago, Mertens took off in his small plane, landed at the small airport in the New Guinea highlands, Paro, dropped off five passengers, picked up 15 construction workers, and then headed back south. But after landing, Papuan fighters immediately attacked him, dragged him and his passengers outside, and then set the Susi Air plane on fire. Since the passengers themselves were Papuans, they were immediately released, but Mertens was taken hostage. The photo above was also taken at that time, with Mertens sitting with a cheerful face on a tree trunk at the edge of the rainforest, surrounded by determined militiamen armed with assault rifles and drawn bows.
The New Zealander lives in Bali with his Indonesian wife, and had no idea his own trip could end this way, he wrote. Guardian. Mehrtense is detained because New Zealand (and incidentally Australia and the United States) is cooperating militarily with Indonesia. Sibi Sambom, spokesman for the West Papua Liberation Army, said after the hostages were taken.
“We will never release the pilot we are holding hostage until Indonesia recognizes Papua and frees it from Indonesian colonialism,” he said.
Concern increased for the hostage's safety, especially since there was no longer any news about him. The rebels rarely announced that the pilot was in good health, sometimes even releasing a recording of him. Damian Kingsbury, a professor at Deakin University in Melbourne, said the hostage must have had a difficult life, and the team of hostage-takers are constantly on the move in the mountains, where it is often very cold (the climate is tropical, but the weather is very cold). Central New Guinea is cut by a mountain range from 3 to 4000 meters long). In May 2023, Papuans threatened to kill Mehratins if negotiations with the Jakarta government did not begin within two months.
Fortunately, Mehrtens was not killed, but a year after his capture, it was announced that they intended to release him on humanitarian grounds. In addition to hidden negotiations by the Wellington government, Kingsbury says the fact that TPN-PB realized it had no benefit from his arrest may also have played a role in Mehrtens' release. On the contrary, it can be a good point for their cause if they show that they are humane.
This was helped by the fact that Mertens probably had a good relationship with his captors, and because he spoke Indonesian, he was able to communicate with them. Finally, he was released with an official ceremony on September 21, and traveled by Indonesian helicopter, according to New Zealand public media. I posted a video. The man actually landed at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base on Saturday, then held a press conference still hairy and losing weight, where he managed to speak to his family via video link, through tears. He thanked everyone for their help. “I was released today. I am very happy that I can go home soon and see my family.”
His family also issued a statement in which they thanked the Indonesian and New Zealand governments for the negotiated settlement and that they did not want the armed pilot released. They also thanked Aegeanus Cogoia, the leader of the militia, for maintaining the man's health and occasionally allowing him to send messages to the outside world.
Did they pay or not?
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters according to Mertens is in good shape. According to him, the negotiations with the rebels were very “nervous.” Right now, there are still many question marks over what type of waivers Mehrtens was released on. According to Agence France-Presse, Sambom, the rebel spokesman, said according to The Indonesian government gave the money to the leader of that province, who paid the ransom to TPN-PB. New Zealand diplomat denies involvement in paying ransom – PetersShame on them” called the assumption – and the Indonesian side also denied it.
The rebel spokesman contradicts local church leader Sufian Socrates Yeoman, who says Mehrtens' release is due to the military commander of the Free Papua Movement, Egeanos Kogoya. “No, no, there was no bribery. It is a political mission. It was the kindness of Aegianus Cogoya to release Mehrtens.” According to Pastor Yeomans, they wanted to send a message that they were not barbarians, not terrorists, not criminals, but human beings struggling for independence. Six decades on, it is time for the world to hear their voices.
Philipp Mertens arrives at Halim Perdanakusuma Military Air Base in Jakarta after his release on September 21, 2024 – Aging Dinar Ulviana/Reuters
According to Radio New Zealand, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon stated that civic organizations, churches and local governments played an important role in the hostage negotiations in addition to governments. As well as Indonesian President Joko Widodo HighlightThat it was a “very long negotiation process” that was carried out patiently and without rudeness.
The fate of Papua
On the other hand, the situation in West Papua, which is also ethnically and culturally different from Indonesia, is unlikely to change. The insurgents continue to fight Indonesian forces, using guerrilla tactics in the mountains and civil disobedience in the more densely populated areas they control. However, Indonesian authorities often act so brutally against civilians that even displaying the Papuan flag in public is punishable by imprisonment.
The Indonesian government does not really allow foreign journalists and NGOs into the area, and UN human rights experts have already indicated that the situation is untenable due to imprisonment, torture and killings. New Zealander Things He writes that representatives of Pacific countries will meet with the governments of Indonesia next week to discuss the human rights situation in West Papua.
