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Paras Indonesia, 11, 01 2005 @ 11:16 pm

Authorities Criticized Over Poso Violence

Roy Tupai

While the government and religious leaders have deplored Saturday's murder and decapitation of three school girls in Poso town, Central Sulawesi province, authorities have been widely criticized for failing to deal seriously with long running conflict in the area.

Critics accuse the government and security forces of not taking the Poso violence seriously because most of the victims have been Christians. Human rights activists and opposition politicians said it should not be too difficult to protect the town of just 6,000 residents.

They said the October 29 attack on the three schoolgirls indicated the failure of a special security operation, codenamed Sintuwu Maroso, which was implemented in Poso in 2002 and his since been extended seven times. More than 3,500 police and soldiers were deployed to Poso under the operation.

"The ongoing violence is really ironic, given that so many soldiers and police have been deployed under Operation Sintuwu Maroso. So far, Operation Sintuwu Maroso has failed to develop peace and security in Poso," Usman Hamid, coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, was quoted as saying Monday (31/10/05) by detikcom online news portal.

He questioned why the failed operation continued to be implemented without any evaluation. "The government must be firmer in revealing the real perpetrators, he said, adding that counter-intelligence security operations should be conducted.

PDI-P legislator Rendy Lamadjido said the failure of "the huge number of police and military personnel" to capture any attackers showed "the security forces are not serious about dealing with Poso".

National Awakening Party (PKB) leader Muhaimin Iskandar said the killings demonstrated the "embarrassing weakness and incompetence" of police intelligence.

The Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) said it would be easy for the government to investigate the "sadistic murders" if it was serious about stopping the Poso unrest.

"The killers usually always leave tracks and would not be difficult to investigate if the government wants to be serious," PBHI coordinator Henry Thomas Simarmata said Sunday.

He said the government should also attempt to end the conflict by conducting programs to boost economic and social cooperation between Poso's different ethnic and religious groups.

The Home Affairs Ministry on Monday criticized the performance of Central Sulawesi Governor Aminuddin Ponulele and Poso Regent Piet Ingkiriwang in handling the conflict. "The governor and regent are asked not to be mere officials, but to be leaders who regularly descend to the field to visit their constituents. These current leaders must be more proactive in calming the situation," Home Ministry secretary general Progo Nurdjaman was quoted as saying by detikcom.

He said the ministry was sending a small team to Poso to help authorities improve their handling of the violence and to prevent the conflict from spreading to neighboring provinces.

Parliament speaker Agung Laksono said the killings were proof of the poor performance of the police and intelligence agencies.

"In my opinion, this failure is all the more striking because it happened during the fasting month. Security forces must be more prepared for danger in this conflict area," he said.

He said the conflict was probably not due to a local religious conflict, but perpetrated by a "third party". Asked whether state security forces might have been involved, he said it was doubtful because the killings were such an immoral act.

The Regional Representatives Council (DPD) urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to immediately form a special agency to act as an umbrella organization for the handling the Poso conflict. A statement by the DPD said the agency should report to Vice President Jusuf Kalla because he had arranged a peace deal in the area in December 2001.

The statement urged the government to comprehensively evaluate the success of costly reconciliation and development programs implemented in Poso since 2002.

The DPD also expressed hope the government would improve its efforts to overcome political, cultural, social and economic problems, which it said were the root of the conflict.

Residents of Poso based in Jakarta on Monday staged a demonstration at the state palace, blaming the government for failing to stop terrorism and human rights violations in their town. They displayed banners with slogans such as "the state is responsible for human rights abuses in Poso" and "all people are brothers".

"The government has failed to give us a feeling of safety. And there is a strong indication that the Indonesian Defense Forces [TNI] and National Police personnel allowed the conflict to happen in Poso," said protest organizer Rudi S. Ponto.

Political analyst Arbi Sanit, a lecturer at Jakarta's University of Indonesia, said the recent acts of violence in Poso were "terrorist actions" aimed at inciting revenge attacks between Christians and Muslims.

He said the Poso unrest had been exploited by local figures and outsiders seeking to take advantage of the conflict by diverting facilities, such as aid for refugees and other kinds of assistance, into their own pockets.

Ade Daud Nasution, a legislator from the Reform Star Party (PBR) and member of parliament's Commission I for defense, intelligence and foreign and political affairs, on Monday said Poso should be declared a special military operations area because police have proved themselves incapable of preventing terrorist actions.

Syafii Maarif, leader of the country's second-largest Muslim organization Muhammadiyah, condemned the "inhumane killing of innocent students", adding it was too early to say whether the attack was religiously motivated.

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