BBC World News, Monday, 22 April, 2002, 09:49 GMT 10:49 UK
Moluccan separatist charged with treason
A Christian separatist leader in Indonesia's Moluccan islands, who was detained last
week, has been charged with treason, a police spokesman has said.
Police in Maluku province said Alex Manuputty, leader of the Maluku Sovereignty
Front (FKM), was charged over the weekend.
He was jailed last week after he threatened to raise banned separatist flags in the city
of Ambon on 25 April, the 52nd anniversary of a failed independence attempt.
There is a fragile peace process in the region following the signing of a deal between
Muslims and Christians earlier this year.
The peace deal ended three years of fighting between the two sides which left more
than 5,000 people dead.
"We have enough evidence to show that he [Mr Manuputty] was agitating people
during a fragile time in which we are working toward peace," said Lieutenant Colonel
Johny Tangkudung.
Curfew
The province remains under a state of civil emergency, which means the government
can arrest people without warrant, disband organisations or crowds, impose curfews
and order the closure of an area to outsiders.
Maluku Vice Governor Paula Renyaan has ordered a 2200-0600 curfew from Tuesday
to Saturday this week in anticipation of the planned flag-raising ceremony.
Mr Manuputty was also briefly arrested last year after he and FKM members and
sympathisers tried to raise a separatist flag at his home.
If he is convicted of treason he faces life imprisonment.
The Maluku Sovereignty Front is a small group banned for its aggressive campaign to
achieve independence for the southern part of the Moluccan islands.
The group wants Indonesia to allow a referendum on whether the region should
become independent, similar to the United Nations-supervised vote in East Timor in
1999.
The numbers of Christians and Muslims are almost evenly split in the Moluccas, while
Indonesia as a whole is 85% Muslim.
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