The Time Bomb in the Sago Barn...

The money expected by Elias was the direct cash aid related to the Covid-19 pandemic worth Rp 1.2 million.

Kompas/Totok Wijayanto

Residents of the villages of As and Atat, Pulau Tiga District, Asmat, Papua, let their neighbors go who wanted to chop sago in the customary forest, Thursday (14/10/2021).

The body of Yohakim Bes was limp. The belly of the three-year-old was distended and his ribs protruded from under the skin. He was groaning in pain while defecating on the side of a plank pathway in Er village, Asmat regency, Papua province.

We met Yohakim in Er village, Sawaerma district, Asmat, in early October 2021. Yohakim was being carried by his father, Elias Besap, 25. Suddenly Yohakim cried as he felt the urge for a bowel movement.