Kiwi pilot freed after 19 months in rebel captivity in Indonesia’s Papua region

A New Zealand pilot held hostage for more than a year in the restive Papua region of Indonesia was freed on Saturday by separatist rebels.

Phillip Mark Mehrtens, a 38-year-old pilot from Christchurch, was working for Indonesian aviation company Susi Air when he was abducted by rebels from a remote airport on February 7, 2023.

“Today I finally got out. I am so happy to be back home with my family soon,” Mr Mehrtens told reporters in a news conference in the mining town of Timika.

“Thank you to everyone who helped me get out safely and healthy.”

Television news earlier showed an emaciated, long-haired Mr Mehrtens, wearing a dark green shirt and black shorts, sitting in a room surrounded by police officers and local officials.

He sobbed while talking to his family via video and an officer tried to calm him down by patting his back.

He was later flown to Jakarta to be reunited with his family.

Rebels have used violence to try to achieve independence as the security situation deteriorates in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua, a former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea that is ethnically and culturally distinct from much of Indonesia.

Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 under a United Nations-sponsored ballot that was widely seen as a sham.

Since then, a low-level insurgency has simmered.

The conflict spiked in the past year, with dozens of rebels, security forces and civilians killed.

Egianus Kogoya, a regional commander in the Free Papua Movement, initially said the rebels would not release Mr Mehrtens unless Indonesia’s government allows Papua to become a sovereign country.

Then on Tuesday, leaders of the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement known as TPNPB, issued a proposal for freeing Mr Mehrtens that outlined terms including news media involvement in his release.

A taskforce spokesperson, Bayu Suseno, said that Mr Mehrtens’ release was the result of hard work from a small task force team that had been communicating with the separatists led by Mr Kogoya through the local church and community leaders as well as youth figures.

“This is incredibly good news,” said Mr Suseno.

“Effort to free the pilot by soft approach resulted in a hostage release without any casualties both from security forces, civilians or the pilot himself.”

Mr Mehrtens’ family said in a statement on Sunday they were “extremely grateful” to the Indonesian government including the police and military for prioritising “peaceful negotiations in order to keep Phil safe”.

“We are also grateful to General Kogoya and his army for keeping Phil as safe and healthy as their means allowed, and for allowing Phil to get several messages out during this period to let us know that he was alive and okay,” the statement said.

“Those messages filled our souls and gave us hope and that we would eventually see Phil again.”

New Zealand foreign minister Winston Peters said that a wide range of government agencies had been working with Indonesian authorities and others to secure the release for the past 19-and-a-half months.

Officials were also supporting Mr Mehrtens’ family, Mr Peters said.

Many news outlets showed “cooperation and restraint” in reporting the story, he added. “The case has taken a toll on the Mehrtens family, who have asked for privacy,” Mr Peters said.

New Zealand news outlets reported during Mr Mehrtens’ captivity that he was one of a number of expatriate pilots employed by Susi Air and in recent years lived in Bali with his family.

Mr Peters had not spoken to Mr Mehrtens since his release.

The news was “one of the better stories I’ve had” in his 45 years in politics, the three-time foreign minister added.

He declined to give details about how the pilot was freed.

It was a “tricky” environment and building trust had been the most difficult aspect, Mr Peters said.

“It was quite nerve-wracking, holding our nerve and not getting too carried away, not doing anything that might imperil the chances,” he said.

“Because there was always a concern of ours that we might not succeed.”

Indonesian President Joko Widodo congratulated the military and police for prioritising persuasion and safety.

“This was through a very long negotiation process and our patience not to do it repressively,” Mr Widodo said.

Mr Mehrtens arrived at Jakarta’s Air Force base Halim Perdanakusumah just before midnight on Saturday.

He was escorted by police and military personnel as he descended the plane’s steps and was greeted by Indonesian officials and New Zealand diplomats on the tarmac.

The coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs Hadi Tjahjanto told a news conference after the arrival that the Indonesian government officially handed Mr Mehrtens over to New Zealand’s ambassador to Jakarta, Kevin Burnett, who will oversee his safety.

He emphasised that the separatist rebels had not demanded anything in return for Mr Mehrtens’ release and hostage safety is a top priority.