CRISIS CENTRE DIOCESE OF AMBOINA
Jalan Pattimura 32 -- Ambon 97124 -- Indonesia
Tel 0062 (0)911 342195 Fax 0062 (0)911 355337
E-mail: crisiscentre01@hotmail.com
Ambon, September 11, 2005
THE SITUATION IN AMBON/MOLUCCAS - Report No. 487
1. TERRORIST KILLED - When the day after the bomb explosion at the Mardika
Market last August 25, the police tried to arrest one of the suspects, named Sarmin
M. alias Aden, who was hiding in a shed in the woods near the village of Ketapang,
island of Ceram, he attempted to escape. He then was shot at by the police and
seriously injured. Though fourteen police servicemen contributed their blood to save
the suspected perpetrator, he at last died of his injuries.
2. REFUGEES PROTEST - When in January 1999 the unrest erupted in Ambon,
thousands of people fled Ambon; hundreds of these fled to the Kei Islands, S.E.
Moluccas. Many of these have being staying there in provisional living conditions up to
this day. Financial help for them to build or rebuild their houses either in Kei or in
Ambon is being delayed endlessly. So at last - on August 30 - 150 of them, under
coordination of Frans Putranubun, went up to the Social Department Office in Tual,
capital of the S.E. Moluccas regency, and started to throw stones at the building,
smashing lots of windowpanes, entering the building and throwing furniture and various
office appliances out of the windows, even trying to start a fire. There were shoutings
like "We are fed up with being treated as beasts" and "You employees have been
devouring our refugee funds for several years already..." etc. The head of the Social
Department Office, Burhanuddin Rahawarin tried in vain to soothe the mayhem. About
12 office employes then assailed Yosef Matwear, the one who tried to set fire to the
building, and seriously mishandled him. At last the police put an end to the
pandemonium. Likewise - a few days ago - several dozens of refugees went up to the
Social Department Office in Ambon, lamenting and sobbing because of their nasty
fate, having been refugees for six years already, being promised help for rebuilding
their houses again and again, never to be fulfilled.
3. ANNIVERSARY OF THE CITY OF AMBON - These days the city of Ambon is
celebrating its 430th birthday. Among the many festivities - all of which intend to
enhance mutual communication between the erstwhile mutually opposing parties -
may be mentioned a visit to Ambon by 17 young Dutch-Moluccan soccer players from
the Dutch town of Middelburg. For ten years already, Ambon has had a sister-city
relation with Vlissingen, a town not far from Middelburg, (see Reports 255, 416 and
464). The Mayor of Vlissingen - Anneke van Dok - was among those visiting Ambon.
The Fair Play Cup went to the PSA (Perserikatan Sepakbola Ambon) club.
4. SRI LANKAN TERROR EXPERT EXPELLED - A Singapore based professor and
expert on terror issues was arrested on September 5, for travelling around the
Moluccas doing research while holding a tourist visa, not having a proper research
permit. Mr. Rohan Kumar Gunaratna, from Sri Lanka, was arrested by an antiterror
police unit while he was on his way to Ambon from Ceram island. Arrested were also
his Indonesian translator and his local guide. Gunaratna - as we read in The Jakarta
Post newspaper - is a professor and the chairman of the Institute of Defense and
Strategic Studies (IDSS) based in Singapore, which is known to have produced a wide
range of articles and books on international politics, terror and strategic defense.
Apparently Gunaratna came to Ambon in order to check on rumours that - as the
situation in the Moluccas has been gradually returning to a semblance of normalcy -
this area had become a safe haven for terror suspects, who are planning terror attacks
throughout S.E. Asia. According to The Associated Press, Gunaratna now was
deported and put on a plane for Jakarta the day before yesterday; he was told to leave
the country upon arriving in Jakarta - thus had been stamped on his passport.
However, Gunaratna himself denied he had been expelled and said that he had no
immediate plans to leave the country. His two aides were released. A comparable
expulsion from Indonesia happened to Sidney Jones, the Jakarta based Southeast
Asia director of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group thinktank; however, she
was recently allowed to return and live in Jakarta.
5. VISA FOR DUTCHMEN - Since September 1, it is not possible any more to obtain
a visa for Indonesia via swift mode. Thus the Indonesian embassy in the Hague has
been informed by the Indonesian Government in Jakarta. For obtaining a visa for
Indonesia must be reckoned a period of at least eleven weekdays. It is advisable -
when intending to visit the Moluccas - to let onself be invited by someone living in the
Moluccas. Advice by the Dutch Government on travelling to and in Indonesia can be
read on www.netherlandsembassy.or.id
C.J.Böhm msc,
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina |
