Indonesia, New Zealand deny Papua rebels’ claim ‘bribe’ paid for pilot’s release

JAKARTA: Jakarta and Wellington on Monday (September 23) denied claims by rebels in Indonesia’s troubled Papua region that a New Zealand pilot was freed from captivity over the weekend after being paid by a local leader.

Phillip Mehrtens, 38, was freed on Saturday by a rebel group from the West Papuan National Liberation Army (TPNPB) after 19 months of captivity.

Sebby Sambom, a spokesman for the group, said the Indonesian government gave the money to the acting district chief of Papua where Mehrtens was released, accusing him of paying rebels without providing evidence.

“The Indonesian military and police paid bribes to Edison Gwijangge and his team,” he said in a statement to AFP on Monday, referring to the acting head of the Nduga regency.

The funds then flowed to the rebels “through the family system,” Sambom said.

“TPNPB … handed the pilot over to Edison. Edison then … handed the pilot over to the Indonesian military and police.”

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters quickly dismissed any suggestion that Wellington was involved in paying for Mehrtens’ release, saying it was diplomacy that secured his freedom.

“I think it’s a disgrace, quite frankly, that it was even suggested that a bribe had been paid – we don’t pay ransoms, we don’t pay bribes,” Peters told Radio New Zealand on Monday.

“All the work that these people of all stripes, including civil servants, do, who work as hard as they can and as carefully as they can — not to make a mistake, not to be offensive, not to fail — has now been curtailed by the bribery charge.”