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AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Monday September 3, 2001
Indonesian police arrest 47 pro-independence activists in Maluku
JAKARTA, Sept 3 (AFP) - Indonesian police in the eastern province of Maluku have arrested 47 suspected supporters of a pro-independence movement, a report said Monday.
The deputy district police chief of Central Maluku, Commissioner Muhammad Rivai, was quoted by the Republika daily as saying they were detained during a "secret meeting" at Kairatu on Seram island on Thursday.
"We are currently detaining them at the district police headquarters," Rivai said.
The deputy police chief said the meeting was organised by the pro-independence Front for Maluku Sovereignty but its leaders including chairman Alex Manuputty escaped the raid.
The front was established in December last year in Ambon to press for the establishment of a "Free South Maluku Republic." It held a separatist flag-raising ceremony in Ambon in June and Manuputty was detained but released after a few days.
Later that month Maluku Governor Saleh Latuconsina banned all reporting and coverage of the group's activities.
Officials in Seram island could not be reached for comment on the report.
The Maluku independence movement became active shortly after Indonesia's own independence from the Dutch in the second half of the 1940s.
In the early 1950s President Sukarno allowed selected people from the region -- especially former employees of the Dutch colonial administration -- to resettle in the Netherlands.
Many pro-independence activists were among those who chose to move to the Netherlands, where the movement has continued.
Sukarno's daughter, Preident Megawati Sukarnoputri, has said she will not tolerate any attempts at secession. bs/sm/cl AFP
Copyright © 2001 AFP. All rights reserved.
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