Jayapura, Jubi – As of Thursday, June 9, 2022, at 8 p.m. local time, 21 students of Sentani 1 Vocational School were still being questioned at the Jayapura Police, after previously celebrating graduation by doodling the Morning Star pattern on their uniforms then convoying in Sentani, the capital of Jayapura Regency.
The 21 students are Epison Deal (20), Margareth Asaribab (18), Ana Nawa (19), Friska Tabuni (20), Yomince Suhuniap (18), Fransina Wanimbo (19), Eko Pasek (21), LB (17), Rikson Enumbi (18), WA (17), LAP (15), Kristina Jikwa (18), Yonting Keduman (22), Yani Wanimbo (21), Novela Singpanki (19), Ance Yoku (19), Jems Kogoya (19), Rikanus Koranue (18), De (17), Pamison Wanimbo (19), Oktamina Yoal (18).
One of the students, Ana Nawa, said they drew the Morning Star on their uniforms as an expression of joy over their graduation. “This is our day,” Nawa told Jubi in Sentani.
Nawa said the police arrested at least 78 students of Sentani 1 Vocational School for convoying. At Jayapura Police Headquarters, the police separated students who wrote off their shirts with the Morning Star and other students who draw on their uniforms with other patterns.
Students who wrote off other patterns than Morning Star have been allowed to go home. However, the police took the fingerprints of the students who had the Morning Star pattern on their uniforms, then questioned them one by one. “They asked us about the purpose of drawing Morning Star on our uniforms,” Nawa said.
Director of the Papua Legal Aid Institute Emanuel Gobay said his party was still accompanying the students. “Earlier, the Jayapura Police’s Head of Security Intelligence said if there are parents who want to come and pick them up, they are allowed,” said Gobay. (*)
