The Jakarta Post, January 21, 2006
Muslim, Christian refugees unite to demand houses
M. Azis Tunny, The Jakarta Post, Ambon
About 200 displaced Muslims and Christians rallied in front of the Maluku Legislative
Council in Ambon on Friday, demanding the authorities build them adequate houses.
They accused regional and central governments of neglecting their welfare after
religious violence forced them to flee Ambon in Jan. 19, 1999.
Pieter Pattiwailapia, head of the Coalition of Maluku Displaced People, said many of
his group were still camped at temporary barracks in terrible conditions, six years
after losing th! eir belongings, homes and family members to the conflict that saw
more than 1,000 people killed.
After being scarred or even permanently disabled by the violence, the survivors had
lost further dignity by having to live for years in inadequate dwellings, Pieter said.
Because they had not received government help for so long, their plight should be
registered with the Indonesian Records Museum, he said.
Pieter believed the neglect was cause by government ignorance and officials'
unwillingness to deal with the problem properly.
"No adequate public facilities have been provided by the government, like schools or
even the reconstruction of the displaced people's houses," he said.
While many of the displaced people wanted to return to their villages, they could not
go home to nothing.
"How can the government be so unprepared?"
This central a! nd regional government neglect had created a new kind of poor, Pieter
said.
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