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CRISIS CENTRE DIOCESE OF AMBOINA Jalan Pattimura 32 - Ambon 97124 - Indonesia Tel 0062 (0)911 342195 Fax 0062 (0)911 355337 E-mail: compro@ambon.wasantara.net.id Ambon, November 1, 2000 THE SITUATION IN AMBON / MOLUCCAS - Report no. 86 MINISTERS' VISIT TO THE MOLUCCAS - Instead of 13 Ministers (see Report 85 no.6), only 6 Ministers form Jakarta arrived at Laha airport, Ambon, on October 31. Several other officials were with them, among others the Supreme Military Commander, Widodo AS. The deputation was led by the Minister of Political/Social/Security Affairs (MenSosPolKam), Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. They previously had visited Atambua and Kupang (Nusa Tenggara Timur islands), Wamena and Jayapura (Irian/Papua). They arrived at Laha airport at 9.45 a.m. and left at 2.00 p.m. the same day to go on to Ternate (North Moluccas) and the same day further on to Makassar (South Celebes). Their visit to the Province of the Moluccas was restricted to a meeting with local officials at the airport. Of course local population was disappointed that this visit was to be so brief!   CLARIFICATIONS AND ASSERTIONS - From the side of the Ministers deputation several assertions were made: The Minister of Political/Social/Security Affairs (Mensospolkam), Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, declared that he had ordered the Laskar Jihad in the Moluccas to end all of their activities. He hoped that all elements from outside the Moluccas would leave the area, by which they could be sure of protection by security forces. The Minister of Defense, Prof.Dr. Moh. Mahfud MD, acknowlegded having written before become a Minister a preface to the second edition of the (especially by the christians) much critized Laskar Jihad Handbook by Rustam Kastor, titled "Konspirasi Kristen dan RMS Menghancurkan Umat Islam di Ambon-Maluku"(Christian and RMS Conspiration to annihilate the Muslim Community of Ambon-Moluccas). In this preface, he declared he did not really approve of this booklet, since he had only written that the contents of this book was just a theory, notably one of six possible theories. In this way " he said " he wanted to make known that he disapproved of its contents as far as it offered a clarification of the muslim-christian conflict in the Moluccas.   VISIT TO TERNATE - Having arrived at Ternate, the Minister of political/social/security Affairs (Mensospolkam), Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, during a meeting with governor Muhyi Effendie and other officials, confirmed that he had been informed by the local security forces that in the North Moluccas there was still going and coming of provocators, who might have aspirations to continue the conflict. However, generally spoken, the situation in the North Moluccasas was under control, even near to normal, he said.   NEGLECTING THE MOLUCCAS? - Both in Ambon and Ternate, Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono repudiated accusations by the population of the Moluccas that the central government allegedly does not pay much interest in the conflict in the Moluccas, compared to short-living conflicts elsewhere, such as in Wamena (Irian/Papua). He retorted that on the contrary most attention is paid to the Moluccas, judged by the total of security forces available in the Moluccas as many as 13.000 troops, police forces not included. This is about 40% of all military security forces which are dispatched to the critical areas (Moluccas, Irian, Aceh, Atambua etc.).   LONGSHEDS FOR REFUGEES - The provincial Pekerjaan Umum (Public Works) up to now has build in and around Ambon 222 longsheds (barraques) for refugees. According to the chairman of the Town Council, Drs. Y.Papilaya, the quality of these sheds is only fit for animals. If the building of these sheds had been entrusted to the town's authorities, their quality would have been much better Sheds that have been (or are being) built by local NGO-s, such as the Crisis Centre of the Diocese of Amboina, in fact are of better quality.   Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina C.J.Böhm MSc Secretary Received via e-mail from : Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina  Copyright © 1999-2000  - Ambon Berdarah On-Line * http://www.go.to/ambon HTML pages designed and maintained by Alifuru67 * http://www.oocities.org/alifuru67 Send your comments to alifuru67@egroups.com