The Jakarta Post, 5/9/2002 11:37:01 PM
Govt issues directive to end conflict in Maluku
JAKARTA (JP): Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono has issued a directive ordering the dissolution of the
pro-independence Maluku Sovereignty Front(FKM), and the expulsion of reputed
troublemakers, including the militant Laskar Jihad, from the restive province of
Maluku.
Comr. Gen. Ahwil Luthan, inspector general at National Police Headquarters, said the
directive, which was aimed at ending the prolonged conflict, took effect on May 8,
2002.
"The directive is effective as of today (Wednesday) but its enforcement depends on
the Maluku authorities," he said after a ministerial meeting on security and political
affairs here on Wednesday.
Ahwil said the directive also asked the security authorities and all security personnel
deployed in the province to launch door-to-door raids to disarm militias and their
supporters, and for law enforcers to investigate all violations of the law that had
occurred during the three-year-old conflict.
Ahwil further said that the recent arrest of Laskar Jihad commander Ja'far Umar Thalib
was due to his alleged violation of Articles 134, 136, 154 and 160 of the Criminal Code
through his slandering of the President, spreading enmity against the government and
inciting the people to violence.
Separately, analysts blamed the Indonesian Military (TNI) for the mounting problems
in the troubled Maluku islands following the signing of a peace deal last February.
They strongly urged that firm action be taken against Maluku's Pattimura Military
Commander Brig. Gen. Moestopo for what they termed his reluctance to prevent
violence in the islands.
"The Pattimura Military Commander has sabotaged the Malino agreement by allowing
fresh attacks to occur," prominent sociologist Tamrin Amal Tomagola told The Jakarta
Post on the sidelines of a seminar here on Wednesday.
He was referring to the peace accord signed on Feb. 12 in the South Sulawesi hill
resort of Malino by Muslim and Christian leaders to end the three-year civil war in
Maluku, which has led to the deaths of some 6,000 people.
Tamrin, who lectures at Jakarta's state-run University of Indonesia, said that under the
Maluku state of civil emergency, in effect since July 2000, the provincial police chief
was responsible for security in Maluku. But, in reality, Moestopo had been taking
control there.
"As the civil emergency authority's chief, Maluku Governor Saleh Latuconsina has
also been rendered impotent as he has been cut out of the equation by the Pattimura
Military Commander," he added.
He refrained from urging TNI Commander Adm. Widodo A.S. to sack Moestopo for his
failure to enforce the law against troublemakers in Maluku, but said the relevant
authorities should first investigate the reasons behind his inaction.
Kusnanto Anggoro, a political scientist with the Centre for Strategic and International
Studies (CSIS), concurred with Tamrin.
He said the Pattimura military leaders were guilty of insubordination against the
Maluku civil emergency authority in its efforts to restore peace to the islands.
"It's true that there has been a tendency for the military to try to sabotage the Malino
peace deal," Kusnanto said on Wednesday, adding that Latuconsina had been
deprived of control in Maluku despite being chief of the civil emergency authority.
More than 20 people have been killed in the fresh violence that broke out despite the
historic peace pact, including a powerful bombing and the burning of the governor's
office last month.
The latest violence came on April 3 when a gang of masked, well-trained assailants
attacked the Christian village of Soya, near the Maluku capital of Ambon. (tso/nfk)
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