TEMPO Magazine, May 07 - 13, 2002
Illegal Arms: Money from the Barrel of a Gun
Where do all the weapons in Ambon come from?
Time and time again the security forces have disarmed the groups in conflict in
Maluku-or at least those that agreed to hand over their weapons. Time and time again
they have carried out raids. But a large number of weapons are still circulating among
the Christian and Muslim fighters of the troubled region and the TNI and police
ultimately have to turn their eyes on themselves if they want to solve the problem.
The leaders of both Christians and Muslims say it is still easy to get hold of weapons
which are normally only the preserve of the official security forces. There are
thousands of such weapons, ranging from handguns like pistols to assault weapons
like AK-47s and even M-16s. Each side claims the other has more weapons than it
does.
Jacky Manuputty, secretary of the Crisis Center of the Maluku Protestant Church,
claims says the Muslims may have obtained their weapons from a Brimob (Mobile
Brigade) ammunition storehouse in Tantui, which was looted at the end of June 2000.
The head of the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah Communication Forum, the parent group
of Islamic militia Laskar Jihad, says the opposite. Ayip Syafruddin says it was
Christian groups who looted the storehouse.
The central head of TNI information Major General Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin admits that no
less than 853 weapons and 800,000 bullets were stolen from the looted store.
"It could be that the weapons which are circulating among the public at this time
among other places originate from the looting of the Brimob store," he said.
Sjafrie said that his people have succeeded in seizing hundreds of firearms, grenades
and other explosives. Before the invitation came to the Malino II meeting, which
resulted in February's peace accord, he said the security forces succeeded in getting
their hands on around 200 standard battle weapons. And after the invitation came,
some 20 standard weapons and thousands more homemade weapons were seized,
along with 40 standard grenades and 600 homemade grenades, together with
thousands of bullets.
But the still-bloody conflict shows that the use of weapons by both sides has grown
increasingly sophisticated. Jacky from the Christian side even surmises that many
weapons are smuggled from outside Maluku via various containers. Some of the
mortars and heavier weapons, he said, had the name Pindad engraved on them. That
is the state weapons manufacturing firm in Bandung. Sjafrie said that that was a
"rumor that had not been proven".
However, the long-running Maluku conflict has provoked a new dimension of violence.
The military and police have got involved, based on ethnic or religious alliances. And
this conflict has also created a new black market in illicit weapons, which the police
and military are also heavily involved with.
Representatives of each side say that they get weapons from two sources. First, they
make them themselves. Second, they buy them from third parties on the black
market. They admit these are often 'bad eggs' in the security forces who either sell
their own weapons or the leftovers of the militias in East Timor. It is no secret any
more that in 1999 many of the East Timor militias' weapons were supplied by the
Indonesian military.
The more bloody the conflict the more profitable the trade in the black market. The
weapons mafia are doing very nicely out of it.
According to Ayip of Laskar Jihad, many of the bad eggs in the military have
deserted, but there are also some who are still active. The price of an M-16 can reach
Rp16-20 million. Clearly this a tempting market for soldiers whose own living
conditions are often pretty grim.
Jacky confirms what his rival says.
"A package of weapons plus bullets is a popular commodity in Ambon," he said.
A bullet goes for Rp2,000 when things are. The price can go up to Rp4,000-5,000 per
bullet when things get tense. An assault rifle like an SS-1 or an M-16 go for Rp5-6
million. The price doubles in troubled times.
But again and again, Sjafrie denies these tales.
"It is not possible. If weapons go missing, clearly the soldier would be punished.
Weapons and bullets are not trifling matters for the military," he said.
The involvement of the security forces in the sale and purchase of weapons left Jacky
unconvinced that the number of weapons circulating among the people of Ambon
would drop.
There are only two possibilities. It could remain the same or it could grow. What
happened to alleged container-loads of smuggled weapons to date is not clear. The
word is they have been confiscated by the security forces. If that is true, there is a
strong suggestion they will be traded, due to their high value locally, and thus will still
find their way onto the black market.
Ayip suspects the same. A number of weapons seized in raids have been resold,
either due to religious sympathies or for purely economic reasons.
With the increasingly worrying scale of the conflict, the government it appears has to
set up a serious investigation team about the circulation of military or police weapons
among the two sides in conflict. Or Maluku will explode once more and become a
wider conflict still. Leanika Tanjung, Levianer Silalahi, Yusnita Tiakoly (Ambon)
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