Situation under control, tension remains, in Indonesia's Ambon

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, April 30, 2004

Situation under control, tension remains, in Indonesia's Ambon

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After the five-day conflict and chaos in Indonesia's Maluku province, where at least 36 people were killed and hundreds injured, the situation now is under firm control of security forces, and daily life began to return to normal.

The bloody conflict, flared up between Muslims and Christians on April 25 has also burned down or damaged over 200 houses, including a United Nation's office in Ambon, the capital city of the province.

At the request of the provincial administrator, the central government in Jakarta dispatched 500 forces of the police and armyto reinforce the security in the trouble-ridden region on the following day.

The Minister of Home Affairs and also acting Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Hari Sabarno, who justreturned from an inspect visit to Ambon told the local media aftera cabinet meeting over the Maluku situation in Jakarta, that law enforcement and security patrols would be intensified to contain the violence.

Apart from the chief security minister, the other two top security officers, Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, the commander of the Indonesian Military Force (TNI) and Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar also went to Ambon to coordinate and beef up their actions there.

Though sectarian division and confrontation still exist in Ambon and other parts of the islands, Sabarno expressed his beliefthat it was unnecessary to impose a state of civil emergency at this time.

According to the daily "The Jakarta Post" here Friday, public markets in downtown Ambon were open and public transportation was running as schools resumed classes. However, some pupils and students could not reach their schools still.

The massive conflict and street fighting in Ambon were not seenin last two days, but some gunmen openned fire in hidden places, which became major threat to local people. Two policemen who just arrived in Ambon from Jakarta one day after the riot took place inAmbon, were shot to death by these snipers. The TNI chief Gen. Endriartono said he issued orders to the provincial military commander for snipers to be shot on sight.

The latest conflict was triggered off as a group of separatistsbelonging to the Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM) held a rally to commemorate the 54th anniversary of the proclamation of the South Maluku Republic (RMS) and tried to raise their flag in marking itsbirthday. But the local police have been strongly criticized for their failure to prevent the separatist activity of the annual event on April 25. Ambon is a Christian-dominated provincial city. The members of the FKM are mostly Christians. Butthe Indonesian security top officials said that the recent conflict has actually nothing to do with the religion, but a political issue.

The religious division and conflict erupted in 1999 in Ambon following a trivial argument between a public transportation driver and a passenger of different religions. The argument developed later into a prolonged and widespread sectarian fighting,during which thousands of people were killed from 1999 to 2002.

During this period, some radical Muslim organizations sent their paramilitary personnel to Maluku to reinforce their minorityMuslims, thus making the situation more complicated, such as the Laskar Jihad militia, which dispatched thousands of fighters to Ambon. The paramilitary group was dissolved soon after the centralgovernment-brokered the peace accord in February 2002.

In a bid to stem the further spread of the bloody conflict to other areas and involvement of militant Muslims from outside, the TNI chief said the authorities would take steps and not allow themto return to Muluku.

An Indonesian parliament fact-finding mission which just concluded its visit to the trouble-ridden city said the current clashes would likely not spread outside the city as they did threeyears ago, because the Ambonese people had understood that they would not benefit from such bloody conflicts.

On the other hand, some analysts noticed Indonesia suffered from the violence in Maluku. The Jakarta Composite Index dropped 1.95 percent or 15.966 points to 801.967, the lowest level in a month on Thursday in the wake of fresh violence in Ambon.

President of the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) Erry Firmansyah said the plunge was mostly blamed to the country's worrying security situation. The index reached an all-time high of 818.159 on April 27 on optimism over this country's bettering political and security situation following the peaceful legislative electionon April 5.

Source: Xinhua

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