ABC 29/4/2002
INDONESIA: 12 more killed in attack on Christian village near
Ambon
In the Indonesian Maluku Islands militia men wearing military-style uniforms have
attacked a Christian village outside the provincial capital Ambon, killing a dozen
people, and burning down homes and churches. The attack has disrupted the
reconciliation process which has been gaining ground between Muslim and Christian
groups in recent months and which had led to a a peace deal being signed in
February. The weekend's attack followed calls by Jafar Umar Thalib, the leader of the
militant islamic Laskar Jihad army for Muslims to reject the historic peace deal.
Presenter/Interviewer: Tricia Fitzgerald & Eddie Utama.
FITZGERALD: The village of Soya was the target of a ruthless attack early Sunday
morning by a large group of military clad men carrying army issue semi-automatic
weapons.
Marthin Nanere, an Ambonese Christian who teaches at La Trobe University in
Victoria says relatives of the villagers in Soya gave him this report of what happened.
NANERE: It was very early in the morning of April 28th, it was Soya's turn to have its
electricity turned off and that is around 3.45am. And then what happened was all the
attackers just entered this small village, Christian village and went from house to
house while proclaiming Allah's greatness and murdering anybody that they could lay
hands on, not sparing women and children, including a nine-month old baby that was
killed by bullets. The total numbers of residents killed is 12 and nine others were
injured. And also just for your information they burned the second oldest church in
that village as well. Soya village has been very well known as the village that always
look after all the refugees from all other places in and around Ambon. So it has
become a very safe haven place for any Christian.
FITZGERALD: Mr Nanere says villagers were angered when army and police units
failed to protect them; arriving two and a half hours after the violence began.
NANERE: When they got to the place, the local people in fact rejected them because
they said they wanted to catch the attackers and the locals said no, why are you
wasting your time? We couldn't trust you to do this job because basically you're part
of the problem.
FITZGERALD: Christian supporters say the attack has destroyed the villagers' belief
in the peace deal signed in February, which had led them to hand in their weapons to
authorities.
NANERE: All of them actually just surrendered all their weapons just before this
tragedy, surrendered their weapons to the police and the police had promised that we
would protect you. But you know when this happened, where were these police?
FITZGERALD: It is not just the Christian side which is disappointed by the weekend's
violence.
Thamrin Elly is a local Islamic parliamentarian who headed the Muslim delegation at
the Malino peace talks.
He says President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her central government have failed to
properly investigate the causes of the violence in the Malukus and have left the
provincial government to handle the problem.
ELLY: What I hope is that the central government in Jakarta doesn't only look at
broad policy issues which leaves the responsibility for peace efforts on the provincial
government. Security is the responsibility of the central government, not just the
provincial government. I'm disappointed that President Megawati Sukarnoputri has not
yet signed a decree for establishment of an inquiry committee into how the violence
started in Maluku, which is something agreed to by both sides in the Malino peace
talks.
FITZGERALD: Mr Elly says both the Christian separatist RMS group which celebrated
a controversial anniversary last week and an extremist Islamic forum which includes
the Laskar Jihad army are to blame for the new outbreak of violence.
ELLY: The recent happenings are aimed at perpetuating the conflict, there is always
the potential in both communities for that to happen. There are always such
tendencies on both sides that don't want the conflict and the violence to stop.
FITZGERALD: But Marthin Nanere says Jafar Umar Thalib, the extremist Laskar Jihad
army leader has been allowed to use the small Christian separatist group, the RMS,
as an excuse to renew the violence against Christians.
NANERE: Jafar Umar Thalib, this is the commander of Laskar Jihad, he strongly
opposed this peace deal. He was declaring on Friday basically, this is two days
before this happened, he was declaring war against Christians and he just said
Christians as RMS or those who want to be separated from Indonesian government.
So he declared war against them. They used that to justify what they have done to
this Soya village. You see this is just two days after his declaration for war against
Christians.
29/4/2002 | ABC Radio Australia News
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