The Straits Times, April 27, 2004
Ambon violence could harm Bambang at poll
The candidate is closely associated with a truce which has been shattered; Wiranto,
who has pledged to be firm, could benefit
By Robert Go
JAKARTA - Order has been restored in Ambon but the major outbreak of violence that
hit the eastern city on Sunday could shake up the election chances of two former
Cabinet ministers who are now leading the race for Indonesia's top jobs, analysts
said.
[PHOTO: Christian and Muslim groups clashed on the streets of Ambon, leaving 23
people dead and more then 120 injured after 2 days of violence. -- REUTERS]
If the sense is that the reputations of Mr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Mr Jusuf
Kalla, the former coor- dinating ministers for security and social welfare respectively,
could lose lustre because of the violence, conversely, that of rival presidential
candidate Wiranto, who has promised a strong hand in dealing with security issues,
could improve.
As many as 23 people have died and more than 120 were injured after two days of
clashes between Christian and Muslim groups on the streets of Ambon, the provincial
capital of Maluku.
Rampaging mobs torched the local offices of several United Nations agencies, a
church, a large hotel housing several foreign non-governmental organisations, a
Christian university and more than 200 houses.
The authorities sent in hundreds of reinforcement police and soldiers and this seems
to have stabilised the situation for the moment.
Brigadier-General (Police) Soenarko Ardanto told reporters yesterday: 'The situation is
much better compared to Sunday.'
The government has also imposed a general curfew between 6pm and the morning,
effective yesterday.
There is a growing sense that those outside Ambon sparked the violence.
Father Cornelius Bohm, a Catholic priest who runs the Crisis Centre Diocese of
Amboina, said: 'One has the impression that the Muslim groups were prepared to act
against the Christian-separatist activists.
'It is unclear yet but there is a possibility that outside provocateurs were active.'
However it might have started, there are concerns that the outbreak of violence - the
most significant such event since two years ago - could deliver blows to the political
aspirations of Mr Bambang and his running mate, Mr Jusuf.
Both men had acted as architects of the Malino peace agreements, which established
calm in the Maluku and Central Sulawesi provinces by 2002 after years of sectarian
conflict.
Mr Sukardi Rinakit of the Centre for Political Studies in Jakarta said: 'There is the
possibility now that rivals... might use the recurrence of violence in Ambon to argue
that the two were not as successful as they claimed, as ministers.'
Mr Lambang Trijono, a sociologist with the Centre for Security and Peace in
Yogyakarta, agreed.
'The Malino deals established Bambang and Jusuf as national figures who can solve
some of the country's problems. Violence in Ambon eats into the perception that they
are competent leaders,' he said.
Analysts added that the political rivals of the Bambang-Jusuf pairing, including other
presidential candidates, particularly retired General Wiranto, could benefit if Sunday's
violence became a bigger issue at the national level.
Copyright © 2004 Singapore Press Holding. All rights reserved.
|
