CRISIS CENTRE DIOCESE OF AMBOINA
Jalan Pattimura 32 -- Ambon 97124 -- Indonesia
Tel 0062 (0)911 342195 Fax 0062 (0)911 355337
E-mail: crisiscentre01@hotmail.com
Ambon, December 11, 2004
THE SITUATION IN AMBON/MOLUCCAS - Report No. 456
1. ALERTNESS TOWARDS ANY PROVOCATION - Referring to recent irregularities,
Moluccas Police Chief Aditya Warman interprets them as provocative. Warman has in
mind fighting between villages as happened between Pelauw vs. Kailolo, Wakal vs.
Mamua, also between several villages in South Buru. Elsewhere tenseness seems to
be building up as well.
Following these armed attacks in the area - in which usually all kinds of weaponry
turn up, including firearms - the police recently conducted a door-to-door search on
weaponry in three subdistricts in the Central Moluccas. Various types of rifles,
ammunition and homemade bombs were confiscated.
2. UNREST IN HALMAHERA: ONE KILLED - Two workers of an unregistered
goldmine near the village of Waringin, North Halmahera, Province of the North
Moluccas, had a serious quarrel, resulting in the death of one of them, named
Syahmir Ibrahim, a local resident. The killer was Ade Djae, a transmigrant. Following
this sad event, local residents started to attack all transmigrants, forcing them to flee
to safety to the local Brimob police quarters. The attackers then destroyed and
burned the transmigrants' tents.
3. DEMONSTRATION BY MUSLIM STUDENTS - On December 9, many students of
the STAIN (Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Negeri Ambon = Ambon Muslim faculty of
Religion) protested against their academic title - "Sarjana Pendidikan" (more or less:
bachelor of Education) - to be changed into "Sarjana Pendidikan Islam" (bachelor of
Islamic Education). 97 Students said they refused to receive this bachelor title (which
they should receive today, Saturday December 12); 700 Students are making threats
to go over to another university. The demonstration got out of hand when one of the
lecturers drove his car into the rows of students. STAIN chairman Mohammad
Attamini went up to meet the angry students, saying that he could not comply to their
wish since the title modification was ordered by the Department of Religion in Jakarta.
4. MINISTER KIDNAPPED - On December 2, a Pentecostal Minister, Jarok Ratu,
was kidnapped from his house in South Buru by eight men, who - having looted the
house - took him with them in their speedboat. The kidnappers might have hoped to
find certain funds in cash, in connection with the current construction of a new church.
On December 10, one of the kidnappers was arrested by the police at Leksula, South
Buru. The minister has not turned up yet.
5. E-MAIL ADDRESS DIOCESE OF AMBOINA - The new e-mail address of the
Diocese of Amboina is: keuskupan_amboina@yahoo.com, thus replacing the former
address: keu_ab@ambon.wasantara.net.id.
C.J.Böhm msc,
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina |
