The Jakarta Post, May 07, 2002
[Editorial] Ja'far's arrest and Malino
Days after the arrest in Surabaya of Ja'far Umar Thalib, the commander of the militant
Islamic group Laskar Jihad, it is not surprising that skepticism is being voiced by the
public over the effectiveness of the measure. As was reported, police arrested Ja'far
on Saturday on his arrival in Surabaya from Makasar on charges of inciting violence
after mass prayers in Ambon two days earlier. Police authorities, explaining the arrest
to the media on Sunday, read out portions allegedly taken from Ja'far's lecture on the
occasion to prove the Laskar Jihad commander's guilt.
Observers, however, have questioned the effectiveness of the measure. Thamrin Amal
Tomagola, for example, a sociologist and lecturer at the University of Indonesia who
has made himself a name in the past few years as a knowledgeable observer of the
Maluku conflagration, said the authorities should not stop at Ja'far's arrest but take
other measures as well, including investigating other parties who are known or
suspected of keeping the discord alive.
"The authorities have to enforce the law consistently," he said, referring to the points
of a peace agreement agreed upon in Malino, South Sulawesi, in February by the
main parties in the three-year-old conflict. According to Thamrin, those suspects
include not only Laskar Jihad, but also other parties embroiled in the incidents before
and after the Malino agreement and the South Maluku Republic (RMS) separatist
movement.
Although it has been said many times before, it still may do some good to say it
again: The most important key to opening the doorway toward peace in Maluku is
effective law enforcement. By bringing together religious and community leaders of the
parties in the conflict, Malino II, as the agreement is known -- Malino I refers to a
similar deal for Poso on the island of Sulawesi -- has in fact effectively laid the
groundwork for peace by reopening the channels of communication among the parties
in the conflict in Maluku.
In Malino, the leaders expressed what the population of Maluku have felt for a long
time: They are sick and tired of three years of violence and killings that has brought
them nothing but misery. The people want peace brought back into their lives. But to
bring back peace to this once idyllic island paradise, the law -- specifically the points
agreed upon in Malino -- must be strictly upheld.
This has not consistently been done and so a golden opportunity to seize the
momentum has been lost, for, surely, there can be no doubt that the longing for peace
is alive and well among the grassroots population. If there is any doubt about this, one
only has to recall the spontaneous peace parades in which the people of Ambon
marched shoulder-to-shoulder in complete harmony through the streets, irrespective of
race, ethnicity or religion. Neither were the people provoked into reacting with violence
when a bomb blast ripped through a crowd near a shopping mall, killing and wounding
several, or when the governor's office was burned down.
It is in this context certainly worth noting that the people of Ambon continued to
demonstrate this kind of restraint in the wake of the Soya killings last week, by far the
most tragic incident after the Malino II agreement that could easily have turned the
clock back and rekindled the conflagration in Maluku.
As the situation stands at present, both Alex Manuputty, leader of the
proindependence Maluku Sovereignty Forum (FKM), and Ja'far Umar Thalib, the
commander of the militant Laskar Jihad, are in police detention. Ordinarily, this should
satisfy, at least in part, those who are clamoring for action from the authorities.
However, there are many who do not see this as being done in the context of
consistent law enforcement in Maluku. On the contrary, it has tended to strengthen
the suspicion that other dirty hands -- hands of people who are not really party to the
conflict -- may be meddling to take advantage of the conflict for motives of their own.
No need to say, this is a damaging assumption that the authorities would do well to
dispel quickly.
Be that as it may, it should be clear that declaring martial law is not the answer to the
problem of Maluku. On the contrary, it would only confound an already complicated
situation. The only answer is better law enforcement. Although one can understand
the difficulties that stand in the way in a country where lawfulness cannot be fully
assured even on the national plane, it is a step that must be taken unless the
government wants to see the violence and killing go on forever in the islands.
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