The Jakarta Post, March 23, 2005
Calm returns to Ambon after blast
M. Azis Tunny and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Ambon/Jakarta
Security returned to normal in Ambon city on Tuesday, a day after a grenade
explosion hit the Maluku capital leaving at least 19 people injured.
The religiously segregated city was wracked by sectarian violence between 1999 and
2002, killing thousands of people.
"Some people still seem worried after the explosion last night, but traffic has largely
returned to normal," Tomy Ferdinandus, 42, a public transportation driver plying
Ambon-Tulehu route, said on Tuesday.
The grenade explosion on late Monday night occurred when a public transportation
minibus on the Ambon-Passo route was passing Jl. Sultan Hairun in the Muslim
subdistrict of Batumerah in downtown Ambon.
Witnesses said that the minibus, carrying 14 people, was being followed by a
Yamaha RX-King motorcycle with two persons riding.
Suddenly, the motorcycle pulled alongside the minibus and a grenade was thrown
inside.
Fortunately, a passenger, Marten Pelamonia, 20, spontaneously kicked the grenade
out of the minibus, saving passengers from the worst of the explosion. The grenade
exploded a few meters outside the speeding minibus.
The blast, however, injured five people standing along the road. They were rushed to
Al Fatah Hospital for treatment. They were Suhendro Saputro, 22, A. Rafiq Maba, 20,
Rauf Kaplale, 30, Heri Purwanto, 17 and Is Haryanto, 19.
The blast sparked uproar among local residents who ran into the street and tried to
stop the minibus. The residents, who thought that somebody inside the minibus had
thrown the grenade, began hurling stones into the vehicle. In order to avoid injury,
driver Roy Sialessy, 46, sped away but was stopped after 600 meters by a group of
residents blocking the road.
Again, the 14 passengers and driver were fortunate, being saved by police. The police
fired warning shots after local residents approached the severely damaged vehicle and
tried to attack the passengers inside.
Escorted by police personnel, the passengers ran into Bayangkara Tantui Hospital,
some 400 meters away. Four of the 14 suffered severe injuries that required
immediate surgery.
The situation in Ambon city was tense, with many people roaming the streets trying
to find out what was going on. However, calm returned at about noon. Police
conducted random checks along the streets in an attempt to hunt down the
perpetrators of the attack, with Yamaha RX-King's being the main target of the
impromptu inspections.
Chief of Ambon and Lease Islands Adj. Sr. Comr. Leonidas Braksan confirmed on
Tuesday that the explosion was caused by a hand grenade.
Separately in Jakarta, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered National
Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar and Military Chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto to launch
intelligence operations to hunt down the perpetrators of Monday's attack.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla told a press conference on Tuesday that the President
made the order half an hour after receiving the report about the incident.
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