The Jakarta Post, April 14, 2003
Muslims plan to thwart rebel groups's celebration
Aziz Tunny, The Jakarta Post, Ambon, Maluku
The Muslim community in the Maluku capital of Ambon have vowed to foil the planned
anniversary celebration of the South Maluku Republic (RMS) next week.
The Islam Defenders Front of Maluku (FPIM) has began pasting green leaflets on
buildings in a predominantly-Muslim housing complex in Ambon, warning the Muslim
community of the separatist movement.
The leaflets, signed by FPIM chairman and secretary Husni Putuhena and Ma'mun
Pelu respectively, also call for jihad against any secessionist group and appeal to the
Maluku people to help the Indonesian Military and the National Police maintain
national integrity.
FPIM was responding to a plan by the Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM) to celebrate
the 54th anniversary of its affiliated group RMS on April 25,
FKM secretary-general Moses Tuanakota has said some 2,500 supporters of the
organization would observe the anniversary by hoisting the RMS flag. Moses also
called on the people to ignore the government ban on the anniversary celebration,
saying the South Maluku Republic was legitimate as it had been registered with the
United Nations.
RMS initiated an armed rebellion over disappointment with Jakarta in the 1950s, but
was crushed by government troops.
The government and military have warned FKM supporters against celebrating the
RMS anniversary.
FKM chairman Alex Manuputty was sentenced to three years in prison in January for
plotting a rebellion in the Maluku Islands by inciting his supporters to raise RMS flags.
He has been detained at the National Police since March 17 pending his appeal.
Separately, some 350 junior and senior high school students rallied on Saturday
against the separatist movement in the province.
Students from 10 schools and activists of several Muslim organizations joined the
peaceful demonstration. The participants claimed their move was supported by the
Maluku chapter of the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI).
Ahmad Ilham Sipahutar, who coordinated the rally, told The Jakarta Post that the
demonstrators asked the acting governor of Maluku, who is concurrently the civil
emergency administrator, Sinyo Harri Sarundayang, Pattimura military commander
Maj. Gen. Agustadi and Maluku Police chief Brig. Gen. Bambang Sutrisno to take
tough actions against RMS activists.
The separatist issue has resurfaced since the government brokered peace talks in
February last year between Muslims and Christians to end three years of sectarian
conflict in the islands. The bloodshed left some 6,000 people killed and hundreds of
thousands of others displaced.
Masterminds of the sectarian riots remain at large and the government has not lifted
the three-year-old civil emergency status in Maluku.
Meanwhile, Sarundayang said on Saturday the Maluku administration had called on
the central government to pay special attention to the province's efforts to recover after
a peace deal was signed to end communal clashes last year.
Sarundayang said that the government had responded to the request positively,
considering the damage in economic and sociocultural fields inflicted by the conflict.
"The government is likely to issue a presidential decree on Maluku in the near future
that will enable the province to develop both infrastructure and peace," he said.
He said Maluku deserved special treatment as it had experienced serious conflicts
like Aceh and Papua.
All contents copyright © of The Jakarta Post.
|
