The Jakarta Post, 19 April 2002
Papuans hold talks on Muslim paramilitaries
JAKARTA (Agency): Religious leaders in Indonesia's Papua province have met
regional authorities to discuss the entry of a militant Islamic militia into the mainly
Christian province, an official said Thursday.
"The governor held talks with leaders of the Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian
faiths on Wednesday," said Henke, secretary to Papua Governor Jacobus Solossa,
as quoted by AFP.
"They discussed the presence of Laskar Jihad," he said, declining to elaborate.
Laskar Jihad was blamed for inflaming the deadly Muslim-Christian conflict in Maluku
province after sending thousands of fighters there in May 2000.
It also sent fighters to Poso in Central Sulawesi province to help Muslims in battles
against Christians. Recent government-brokered peace pacts have ended both
conflicts, which cost thousands of lives.
The militia's move into Muslim-dominated western districts of Papua was first alleged
two years ago, but it is only in recent months that the group has acknowledged it is
establishing bases there.
A coalition of Papuan religious, tribal and community groups last month accused
Laskar Jihad of trying to stir up religious conflict by circulating provocative newsletters
and giving fiery sermons in Sorong and Fak Fak.
They were also accused of telling worshipers in mosques that the nearly
three-decades-old separatist movement in Papua was a Christian movement, and of
training anti-independence militia units.
At Wednesday's meeting, the government and religious leaders agreed to monitor
Laskar Jihad's activities in Papua, Antara reported.
"Secure conditions in Papua must be safeguarded, so there will be no conflict like
those that have happened in (the Maluku capital) Ambon and Poso," Governor
Solossa was quoted as saying.
He said interfaith relations in Papua, where mainly Christian Melanesians make up
the majority of the 2.1 million people, had always been harmonious.
Solossa urged people not to be provoked by unnamed parties who "wished to disrupt
Papua's peaceful situation."
A Laskar Jihad spokesman, Ayip Syarifuddin, last month denied that his group had
ever "issued statements or circulated leafletsthat could provoke hatred against other
religions." The groupcalls itself a humanitarian organization.
Police have arrested two of the paramilitary group's members in Fak Fak for carrying
home-made firearms, Antara reported.
Papua has been home to a low-level armed struggle for independence since
Indonesian troops invaded on the heels of departing Dutch colonizers in 1963.
The province was renamed Papua this year from Irian Jaya under an autonomy law
and promised a much greater share of revenue from natural resources.
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