LAKSAMANA.Net, April 16, 2004 09:49 PM
Maluku Separatist Anniversary Looms
Laksamana.Net - The approach of the 25 April anniversary of the declaration of an
independent South Maluku has local police and military planning a comprehensive
effort to avert further bloodshed in the province.
Maluku police chief Big. Gen. Bambang Sutrisno told journalists on Friday (16/04/04)
in the provincial capital of Ambon that Operation 'Love of the Red-White' would be
staged in the lead up to and during the anniversary.
Red and white are the colors of the Indonesian flag but local leaders in Ambon,
Seram, Buru and more than 100 smaller islands wanted their own Republic of South
Maluku (RSM) and declared independence on 25 April 1950, following the end of the
war for independence from the Dutch.
The anniversary is a tense time in Ambon in particular and over a dozen people were
killed in the two weeks following last year's anniversary.
Sutrisno said that the entire province would go on 'high alert' and that police would
launch a number of 'preemptory' actions against those suspected of planning
upheaval, reported detikcom.
The operation also involves the Pattimura military command covering the province as
well as provincial government authorities and state prosecutors, he said.
Sutrisno said on Tuesday that a total of 1,080 government and military/police
personnel would be directly involved in the operation, including 560 police officers and
430 soldiers of the Pattimura Regional Command.
Last year's operations prior to and after the outbreak of violence netted 500 RMS
sympathizers and 200 had already faced court on a variety of charges ranging from
insurgency to minor weapons offences, he said.
The police, military and intelligence authorities were already monitoring the activities
of suspected separatist sympathizers and would not tolerate any disturbance to the
peace this year, he added.
A tentative peace remains between Christians and Muslims in the province despite
the deaths of anywhere between 5,000 and 9,000 Malukans since 1999 in
intercommunal clashes.
The military emergence declared as a result of the fighting was downgraded to a 'civil
emergency' in September last year.
Police chief Sutrisno assured journalists that the authorities intended to use an
'intellectual approach' in dealing with separatist sympathies rather than taking up
arms against suspects.
"We'll be using an intellectual strategy. They (RSM) are not an armed enemy such as
GAM in Aceh,” he said referring to separatists of the Free Aceh Movement in
Indonesia's western-most province where a military emergency declared on May 18,
2003, has led to the deaths of around 2,000 alleged rebels.
Arms Surrendered
A plethora of arms and bullets were handed over to military authorities in Maluku
Tengah regency this week in a show of goodwill ahead of the anniversary.
Locals of Laimu village, Tehoru district, handed over 70 homemade firearms on
Tuesday and residents of Liang village, Salahutu district, surrendered a
fully-operational SKS self-loading, semi-automatic rifle on Friday.
A spokesman for the local military command, Major (Inf) Paiman, said that locals had
volunteered to hand over their weapons without any form of coercion on the part of the
police or military.
"This is the result of the people's social conscience to create a conducive environment
for everyone. We will protect all those who hand over their weapons stash,” he said
on Friday after commandeering the SKS.
But he warned that those refusing to hand over weapons faced tough penalties under
the emergency laws and indicated that the military would launch 'sweepings' of places
suspected of harboring weapons.
Tehoru and Salahutu districts were wracked by bloodshed as communal violence
spread throughout the province after 1999.
Liang village was a base for Laskar Jihad fighters who flooded the province from other
regions of Indonesia and launched paramilitary offences.
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