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, April 19, 2004
THE SITUATION IN AMBON/MOLUCCAS – Report No. 417
1. GENERAL SITUATION - It has been a month since we last sent out a report on the
situation in the Moluccas. Generally spoken the erstwhile strife between the two
religious communities has come to an end. The General Election of last April 5th, too,
went along in good order. Of course further reconciliation is very much needed, but
one may trust that this will happen in a natural way. Then there is still the problem of
the thousands of refugees, most of whom cannot afford financially to go home and
rebuild their houses. Government funds seem to be lacking or their liquidity is being
hampered in some way or other. Others are still scared to return to their original
homesteads or even feel sufficiently comfortable with their present living condition.
2. WEAPONRY HANDED OVER - On April 12, the residents of the village of Laimu,
district of Tehoru, South Ceram, spontaneously handed over 70 homemade weapons
and a considerable amount of ammunition to the military authorities. Four days later a
resident from Liang, island of Ambon, surrendered a standard SKS rifle together with
ammunition. Though civilians are forbidden by the law to be in possession of firearms,
they have the assurance that in the wake of the Moluccas conflict they only will be
prosecuted when discovered by security forces to hide such weaponry - not when
they voluntarily hand them over.
3. ALERTNESS TOWARDS APRIL 25th - With the annual commemoration of the
declaration of independency of the South Moluccas (RMS / Republik Maluku Selatan)
coming into view, Police Chief Bambang Sutrisno during a ceremony in Ambon on
April 16, directed military and police forces, together with all civilians, to do their
utmost to prevent any raising of the RMS flag or other FKM/RMS-sponsored unrest on
that date, April 25th. In the so-called "2004 Red-and-White Operation" persuasive
rather than oppressive measures will be taken towards potentially separatism
supporters. Bambang reminded his addressees that those that call themselves RMS,
are an unarmed group, that therefore should not be counteracted with violence, but
with the Law.
C.J.Böhm msc,
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina |
