CRISIS CENTRE DIOCESE OF AMBOINA
Jalan Pattimura 32 – Ambon 97124 – Indonesia
Tel 0062 (0)911 342195 Fax 0062 (0)911 355337
E-mail: crisiscentre01@hotmail.com
Ambon, April 3, 2002
THE SITUATION IN AMBON / MOLUCCAS – Report No. 253
1. SURRENDERING WEAPONRY – In an official statement, dated April 1st 2002,
Governor Dr. Ir. M.Saleh Latuconsina declared that the final date of voluntary handing
over of weaponry by civilians in the Moluccas, is postponed till April 30, 2002. The
reason seems to be that socialisation of the Moluccas Agreement of Malino has not
yet been implemented to its full extent, both geographically and psychologically.
Moluccas Police Chief Commander Sunarko declared to Jakarta based “Kompas”
daily that up to now quite a number of weapons have already been surrendered
voluntarily, scl. 1 standard rifle, 164 home-made rifles, 70 home-made revolvers, 169
bombs of own fabrication, 143 locally assembled bazookas and a large amount of
ammunition.
Should be noted that the surrender of weaponry is almost exclusively one-sided: it is
virtually only the Christians that surrender their weapons.
2. INVESTIGATION TEAM – As an implementation of the Moluccas Agreement of
Malino, an independent Investigation Team will be established, coordinated by
National Supreme Police Chief Da’i Bachtiar; it will be composed of non-Moluccans.
Investigation will be carried out on what really happened on that catastrophic date of
January 19, 1999, further on the existence and activities of the FKM (Forum
Kedaulatan Maluku), RMS (Republik Maluku Selatan Movement), Christian RMS,
Laskar Jihad, Laskar Kristus, forced conversions and violation of human rights.
3. NEW DAILY NEWSPAPER – On April 1 a new Ambon based daily newspaper was
inaugurated during a ceremony at the Amans Hotel. The newspaper bears the name
of “Koran Info”.
C.J.Böhm msc,
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina
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