The Jakarta Post, 5 April 2002
Governor accuses bombers of trying to sabotage Maluku peace
pact
JAKARTA (Agency): Civil Emergency administrator who is also Maluku Governor
Saleh Latuconsina vowed Thursday to hunt down those behind a "savage" bombing
which killed four people, saying they wanted to sabotage a Muslim-Christian pact
which broughtrelative peace to the eastern Maluku islands.
"We all know those people who do not want to accept the Malino (peace) agreement,"
Latuconsina said as quoted by AFP).
"Society has been provoked and the opportunity has been used by certain people to
conduct yesterday's (Wednesday's) savage action."
Speaking to journalists a day after the bombing and the ensuing torching of his office
by an angry crowd, Latuconsina said there were already "clearer indications" about
the perpetrators but gave no details.
Maluku police chief Brig. Gen. Soenarko said they have questioned five witnesses and
have sought help from the national police forensic laboratory.
Soenarko said a van believed linked to the bombing had been confiscated. It
contained wiring and an antenna.
The government-brokered peace pact signed in February by Muslim and Christian
delegates ended three years of sectarian clashes in which some 9,000 people were
killed and half a million driven from their homes.
But some parties oppose it, saying the delegates were not representative of society.
Among them are the militant Muslim Laskar Jihad, most of whom come from other
provinces.
Latuconsina said that as of early Thursday four people had died and 39 were still in
the hospital following the blast, which occurred in a Christian area of the city.
On Thursday the provincial capital appeared calm with traffic back on the streets and
markets and shops open.
"Even the market near the blast site is open this morning, although there were not as
many people as usual," a local journalist said.
The carnage caused by the blast angered people from both Muslim and Christian
camps who converged on the governor's office. The office was set ablaze, stones were
thrown and police and troops fired warning shots to disperse the crowd.
Only the frame of the three-story building is still standing and the governor and other
officials are working from other offices.
Latuconsina, who oversees a state of civilian emergency in the province, said he had
ordered the police and the military "to take firm actions, seek, arrest and process the
bombers."He said the move should include "sweep operations" to find weapons and
explosives.
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