MISNA - Missionary Service News Agency, 12/12/2003 15:53
Indonesia
Moluccas: Christian Separatist Leader Manuputty Flies to US
Church/Religious Affairs, Brief
The Christian separatist leader Alex Manuputty, active in the Moluccas archipelago,
managed to leave Indonesia during the first week of December for the United States
(US), the Fathers at the Crisis Centre of the Catholic diocese of Ambon, chief town of
the Moluccas, told MISNA today.
The Fathers recalled that Manuputty was arrested on 17 April 2002 and sentenced to
three years imprisonment in January 2003, only to be released in November on the
expiry of the maximum term of remand.
The 55-year-old head of FKM (South Moluccas Independence Movement) has
apparently fled to the US to seek support for his small separatist movement, which
does not have the backing of the local Church.
The governor of the Moluccas, Karel Ralahalu, has asked the Jakarta government to
request Manuputty's extradition as soon as possible. FKM aims to create the
'Republic of the Southern Moluccas' (RSM) through a referendum for independence
along the lines of the one held in East Timor on 30 August 1999.
Muslims accuse the group led by Manuputty of fuelling the inter-religious clashes in
the Moluccas from January 1999 to spring 2002. In turn Christians are accusing the
Islamic extremists of 'Laskar Jihad', whose leader Ja'afar Umar Thalib was first
convicted and then fully acquitted on 30 January. [LC]
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