AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Monday August 26, 2002
Christian separatists blame Maluku unrest on soldiers and
Islamists
JAKARTA, Aug 26 (AFP) - Two Christian separatist leaders on trial for subversion on
Monday blamed the sectarian violence in Indonesia's Maluku islands on the military
and on an Islamic militia.
The claim was made by Alex Manuputty, leader of the Maluku Sovereignty Front, and
senior Front official Samuel Waileruny during their comments on the prosecutors'
charge.
Muslim-Christian violence which began in January 1999 has cost more than 5,000
lives and made more than half a million homeless. A fragile peace pact went into force
in February.
"The cruelty, barbarity and immorality were strongly suspected to have been done by
the Indonesian government through its armed forces directly and by facilitating the
Laskar Jihad (Jihad Force)," according to the comments read out by Waileruny.
They said the government was at the least guilty of "a planned and systematic failure
to provide protection to the people of Maluku".
The two accused the Java-based Laskar Jihad, which sent thousands of its fighters to
the Malukus, of inciting and forcing Muslims to make war on the Christians.
They also said that "thugs" nurtured by the Kopassus special forces were responsible
for provoking violence and planting bombs.
Manuputty, 55, and Waileruny, 45, are accused of subversion by setting up an illegal
organization and raising the banned flag of the Republic of South Maluku. They face a
maximum sentences of life imprisonment.
Ja'afar Umar Thalib, the head of the Laskar Jihad, is also on trial in a separate Jakarta
court for inciting violence in the islands.
Manuputty then delivered a lengthy justification for the existence of the republic which
was proclaimed in April 1950.
Then president Sukarno crushed the rebellion. Until sectarian unrest broke out in the
Malukus, the movement was mainly alive among overseas exiles.
The trial was adjourned for a week. The bearded Manuputty, who wears a red bandana
over his long hair, and Waileruny are in custody -- unlike Thalib.
More than 80 percent of Indonesia's 212 million people are Muslims. But in some
eastern regions including the Malukus, Christians make up about half the population.
bs/sm/th AFP
Copyright © 2002 AFP. All rights reserved.
|
