The Jakarta Post, May 16, 2002
Arrested Maluku separatist leader to be questioned in Jakarta
JAKARTA (JP): A separatist leader in strife-torn Maluku province who has been
detained for a month will be transferred to Jakarta later Thursday for further
questioning, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said as quoted by AFP.
Alex Manuputty, chairman of the pro-independence Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM),
was arrested at his home in the city of Ambon on April 18 over his plan to raise a
separatist flag on April 25 to mark a secessionist group's anniversary.
"Starting today, Alex Manuputty will be questioned in Jakarta," Da'i told reporters as
quoted by the news agency after a cabinet meeting led by President Megawati
Soekarnoputri.
"(The transfer) is to prevent possible disruptions such as intimidation against
investigators," he said, adding that it had yet to be decided whether Manuputty would
be tried in Jakarta or in Ambon, the capital of Maluku province.
It was reported that Manuputty had arrived in Jakarta at dusk Thursday along with
another detained separatist leader, Sammy Weileruni.
National Police deputy spokesman Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang said both men would
be detained for questioning at the national police headquarters here.
The FKM is affiliated to the now-defunct Christian-basedseparatist movement South
Maluku Republic (RMS), which was declared in 1950 by people loyal to Dutch colonial
rule. Then RMS staged a failed revolt against newly independent Indonesia.
RMS activists, most of them now living in the Netherlands, have continued their
campaign for international recognition.
RMS anniversary celebrations on April 25 in Ambon were marked with explosions and
angry protests by Muslim loyalists.
Muslims and Christians in the Maluku islands have fought a bitter war since January
1999, leaving more than 6,000 dead, some half a million homeless and a trail of
destruction.
Police have also arrested Jafar Umar Thalib, the commander of the Muslim
paramilitary group Laskar Jihad. It has been accused of fueling sectarian violence
since it arrived in the Malukus inMay 2000 vowing to wage "holy war".
Thalib is charged with inciting a massacre of 13 Christian villagers on April 28, three
days after the RMS anniversary.
A state-brokered peace pact in February this year brought a brief calm but has been
undermined by a series of violent incidents since early April -- notably the April 28
massacre.
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
last week ordered the disbanding of the FKM and the expulsion from the Malukus of
the Java-based LaskarJihad. No timetable has been set.
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