Sequence of documentation pictures
(1) - a Christian from Hative Besar was
shot while defending his village from
jihad attackers (2) The destruction of
Silo church (2nd biggest church in
Ambon city) at Dec, 26 1999 by jihad
attackers, (3) Destoyed shops at AY
Patty street, Ambon city. The shops
mainly belongs to the Chinese Ambonese
Christians.
US Senate Warning - Violence Against
Christians in the Moluccas - Indonesia
(29/12/2000) #728
When the three U.N. workers were killed in
East Timorese refugee camps, the whole
world raised their voices and condemned the
killings--rightly so. Yet, thousands have died
in the Malukus, but instead of outrage,
silence has reverberated. Unfortunately, even
people such as the current Leader of the
People`s Consultative Assembly, Dr. Amien
Rais, openly supported calls for Jihad or an
Islamic holy war against the Christians and
other religious believers in Indonesia.
(right) Historical picture of Ambonese
Muslims in Nederland who supported the
RMS movement which was declared in 1950
SOS Appeal from Diocese of Amboina
(29/12/2000) #727 to the right honored Secretary General of the
United Nations and Heads and Ambassadors
of with Indonesia befriended Nations - The
conflict in the Moluccas has been going on for
one year and eleven months now. We herewith
would invite Your Excellencies to consider with
us what we have found as clearly proved in
connection with this unrest ...
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina - Report
no. 117 (28/12/2000) #725 CHURCH LEADERS PROCESSION - On
Saturday, December 23, about 500 Church
Leaders of all christian denominations expressed
their concern on the unrest which has been going
on in the Moluccas for almost two years now, and especially on recent islamisation on the
islands of Kesui and Teor. The black robed protestant ministers and their church council
members, also in traditional black, dominated the spectacle. The procession started at the
St.Francis Xavier parish building on Pattimura Street and ended some 400 meters farther at the
Maranatha Church on the same street, where a oecumenical worship was held.
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina - Report no. 116 (28/12/2000) #724 SEASONS GREETINGS - The Bishop of Amboina, Msgr. P.C.Mandagi MSC, on the occasion
of Christmas and Idul Fitri, herewith wants to express his sincere gratitude to all those who
care for the Moluccan tragedy and hopes you will continue to pray and enhance activities for
reconciliation, justice and peace in the Moluccas. To all readers of this bulletin he sends his
best wishes for a blessed and peaceful Christmas and Idul Fitri. May the Lord bestow His
Blessing upon all of you who are of Good Will.
Debate On the Moluccas at British House of Commons (22/12/2000) #718
Instead of supporting the request for UN peacekeepers, the Government have chosen to keep
repeating the distinction that East Timor was not recognised by the United Nations as part of
Indonesia but that the Moluccas is. That argument is far from satisfactory. It implies that,
merely because the Moluccas is part of Indonesia, the Indonesian military and Islamic militants
should be left free to destroy the Moluccan Christian community and that, if the Indonesian
Government do not wish to do much to try to stop it, we can do nothing. That was not the
attitude that the Government took when they intervened in Kosovo, which was part of Serbia at
the time.
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina - Report no. 115(22/12/2000) #717 CIRCUMCISION - Refugees from Keswui confirm to "Siwalima" newspaper that the
circumcising of the hundreds of christians on Keswui was carried out using a razor blade
("Gilette"), causing infection to several of them. Women, too, were circumcised, they said. Moluccan Forced Conversions Debated in British Parliament (20/12/2000) #711
British Parliamentarians raised grave concerns about the systematic extermination of the
Christian community in the Moluccas islands and the mass forced conversions to Islam
currently being imposed on thousands of Moluccan Christians by Islamic militants. During the
one hour debate, Edward Leigh called on the British government to put strong pressure on the
Indonesian authorities to stop the destruction of the Christian community in the Mol uccas and
the mass forced conversions
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina - Report no. 112 (20/12/2000) #710 MSGR. MANDAGI DEMANDS THE KESWUI CHRISTIANS TO BE FREED - On December 18
Monseigneur P.C.Mandagi MSC, bishop of Amboina, went to the Sacred Heart Church
complex at Batugantung/Ambon to meet the recently freed christians from Keswui. He
declared to Suara Maluku newspaper that he insisted to both the local government and the
Indonesian government that immediate steps must be taken to free those christians who are
still being confined on Keswui and meanwhile have been forced to embrace islam. If not, he will
call out a fierce protest to the world.
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina - Report no. 111 (19/12/2000) #703 MEETING POPE JOHN-PAUL II - On Saturday December 16, Msgr. P.C.Mandagi, bishop of
Amboina, returned from his mission to Rome/Vatican, where he met Pope John-Paul II and had
the opportunity to inform His Holiness about the situation in the Moluccas, paying special
attention to the recent forced conversions of christians who had to embrace islam in order to
save their lives on the islands of Keswui and Teor.
Moluccan Soverignty Front: To Declare Independence from the Republic of Indonesia
(18/12/2000) #699 The unanimous Declaration of the Moluccan People – Voices of the Islands, When in
the course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the Political
Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among Powers of the Earth,
the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a
decent Respect to the opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which
impel them to the Separation.
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina - Report no. 110 (16/12/2000) #688 RENEWED INVESTIGATION ON THE ISLAND OF KESWUI – This second investigation team
reports – while still in Keswui (Kesui) – to the Protestant Maranatha Advocacy Team in
Ambon, that also this second mission may turn out to be a failure. About a hundred christians
have already been brought to the ship (the freighter Mentari II), where they are to be
questioned. No wonder the local laskar jihad protest vigorously against this method, and at the
same time the remaining christians feel more and more threatened.
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina - Report no. 109 (16/12/2000) #687
Everybody knows that since the early sixties there has not been any RMS movement any more
in the Moluccas. Besides, RMS in the Moluccas was always restricted to the Lease Islands
only (the island of Ambon and its small neighbours to the east). And if there are any
separatists here, well that is none of the jihads’ business: the government will take care of
that. Do they fight separatism in Aceh and Papua?
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina - Report no. 108 (14/12/2000) #679 REBUILDING OF PATTIMURA UNIVERSITY - The Rector Magnificus of the Pattimura
University, Prof. Dr. Mus Huliselan, confirms that rebuilding of the Pattimura University Campus
is planned to start in 2001. The Japanese government has allotted 140 billion rupiah ( US$
16,000,000.-) to this purpose. The University is situated in Poka, at the opposite side of the
Bay of Ambon. It was destroyed by muslim masses in the beginning of July 2000.
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina - Report no. 106 & 107 (13/12/2000) #675 THREAT TO OCCUPY THE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE - The christians of Rumahtiga, on the
northen shore of the Bay of Ambon, where the bay narrows opposite Galala, saw their large
village destroyed together with the adjacent village of Poka and the Campus of the Pattimura
University on July 4, 2000 (see Report No. 8 etc.). These christians are now threatening the
Governor, M.Latuconsina, that they will come with their whole lot of 7.016 refugees and occupy
the large Governor's Office building at the Pattimura Street in Ambon