The Jakarta Post, April 22, 2002
Curfew in Maluku extended
JAKARTA (JP): The civilian emergency administrator in Maluku province, Governor
Saleh Latuconsina, has announced that a night curfew will be imposed from 10 p.m.
until 6 a.m. from April 23 until April 27, a report said.
"This is to anticipate moves by the Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM) to hoist the flag
of the separatist South Maluku Republic (RMS), which will celebrate its anniversary
on April 25," DeputyGovernor Paula Renyaan said in the Maluku provincial capital of
Ambon on Monday.
Renyaan said that after April 27, the curfew would again be imposed from 12 midnight
to 5 a.m.
"A meeting of more than 10 people held for unclear purposes within the hours of the
night curfew will be considered as a disruption of peace and order, and is therefore
banned," she said.
Reaffirming that the FKM is a banned organization, Maluku Police chief, Brig. Gen.
Soenarko DA, urged the local military to intensify their hunt for FKM members.
"We are ready to take action against those found to have violated the law," he said.
Local police have arrested FKM chairman Alex Manuputty on charges of subversion.
Manuputty and the FKM have reportedly been planning to raise the RMS flag on April
25 to mark the 52nd anniversary of the outlawed group.
Maluku, which is trying to recover from a three-year sectarian conflict that has killed
more than 5,000 people and displaced more than 500,000 others, has been under a
state of civil emergency since September 2000.
Under the emergency, the government, as the ultimateadministrator of the civil
emergency, has the right to order the arrest of people without warrants, disband
organizations and crowds, impose curfews, and issue orders for the closure of certain
areas to outsiders.
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