The Jakarta Post, August 20, 2004
Maluku refugees continue to live in uncertainty
Muhammad Azis Tunny, The Jakarta Post/Ambon
This is the second time that Jamaria Makattita, 79, a widow with four children, has
had to take refuge when her home in Waringin village was burned down in the violence
in Ambon, Maluku.
The first time she had to take refuge was in January 1999, when the sectarian fighting
in Maluku first erupted. In the first two weeks of the violence, three of her children and
four of her grandchildren sought refuge at the Al-Falah Mosque in the Waihaong area,
later moving into a building at the nearby People's Amusement Park.
In the middle of July last year, Jamaria and her family returned to their village after the
government rebuilt their house.
She set up a small kiosk selling sugar, tea, coffee, cigarettes and an assortment of
candies and snacks, hoping to earn enough money so she would not be a financial
burden on her eldest child, Sapia Makattita.
However, Jamaria was again forced to flee her house when renewed violence broke out
on April 25, 2004. The next day, her house was among those in the village that were
burned down.
"I had to take refuge because my house was no longer safe to occupy. So my family
and I returned to a refugee camp at the amusement park," she said.
Besides all the furniture in the house, Jamaria also lost the merchandise that had
been a source of livelihood for her and her grandchildren.
"When I saw my house, it felt like my heart had been broken into pieces," she said.
To make ends meet at the refugee camp, Jamaria opened a small kiosk there. Sapia
also set up a small kiosk near the amusement park to earn money while her husband
Arman, 41, tried to find a job.
Sapia had to wash people's clothes to raise the start-up capital for the kiosk, as well
as to help support her mother.
"I saved up Rp 100,000 to buy the merchandise for my kiosk. I have been running the
kiosk for a month now," Sapia said.
Sapia and her mother both said they had received no assistance from the government.
Conditions at the refugee camp are difficult. Jamaria shares a three-meter by
four-meter shelter with two of her children, one son-in-law and two grandchildren. She
only hopes the government will act to help the refugees.
Waringin village is located along the border separating the Muslim and Christian
enclaves in Ambon city. Despite being unsafe, Jamaria hopes to return to her home.
"It is better to live in our own house than in a refugee camp. If the government asks us
to go home, we will do so only if they have rebuilt our house," she said.
Another resident of the refugee camp is Ani Rumbia, 45, who fled her home in Wainitu
subdistrict in January 1999 along with 180 other families.
The widow, who has two children, said she had received no assistance from the
government -- be it money or building materials.
Even the money the Maluku Social Affairs Office promised to pay widows on May 18
has failed to materialize.
Ani washes people's clothes to support her two children. "I do not know when the
government will rebuild my house," she said.
Every inch of land inside the amusement park is occupied by government-built
barracks and shacks the refugees put up themselves.
At least 279 families took refuge at the park in Waihaong from 1999 to 2000, and
most of them received building materials and money to return home.
But not all of the assistance was properly used. Some refugees chose not to live in
the houses built for them by the government in Waringin and Talake villages, instead
leasing them out or leaving them vacant.
"Before the April 25 violence, some of the refugees had already acquired government
aid. But they did not stay in their newly built houses, instead renting them out to
others," said Siti, a refugee coordinator in Waringin who had to return to the refugee
camp when her house was burned down.
According to data from the Maluku Social Affairs Office, about 70,051 families, or
331,979 refugees, fled the sectarian conflict in 1999. At least 33,673 families, or
174,570 refugees, have been resettled, while the remaining 36,378 families, or
164,189 people, remain scattered across Maluku province.
The government has provided hundreds of billions of rupiah to repatriate and relocate
the refugees. In 2003 alone, over Rp 176 billion was allotted from the state budget for
this purpose, on top of Rp 18 billion in additional funds.
But thousands of refugees still have not received assistance. There have been recent
reports of local officials accused of misappropriating assistance funds for the
refugees.
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