ASSOCIATED PRESS, Monday August 19, 2002
Indonesia Christian Leader Being Tried For Rebellion Plot
JAKARTA, Aug. 19 (AP)--A Christian separatist went on trial Monday for allegedly
plotting a rebellion in Indonesia's religiously divided Maluku islands.
Alex Manuputty's trial in Jakarta comes four days after an Indonesian court began
hearing the case against the leader of a Muslim militia charged with stoking violence
in Maluku.
The trial of the Christian separatist was seen as an effort by authorities in Jakarta to
hold Christian and Muslim extremists equally accountable for sectarian clashes that
have devastated the province and claimed at least 6,000 lives since 1999.
Manuputty, who was arrested on April 17, is accused of plotting a rebellion and
encouraging his followers to hoist banned separatist flags.
His organization - the Maluku Sovereignty Front - is a small group banned for its
campaign to make the southern part of the Maluku archipelago an independent nation.
The group wants Jakarta to allow a referendum on self-determination akin to a
U.N.-supervised plebiscite held in East Timor in 1999. It insists that the Malukus,
2,600 kilometers east of Jakarta, shouldn't be part of Indonesia.
Eighty percent of Indonesia's 210 million people are Muslims, but South Maluku's 2
million inhabitants are evenly divided between the two religious groups.
Separately, Muslim militia leader Jafar Umar Thalib is on trial for allegedly urging
2,500 members of his Laskar Jihad militia to "prepare for war" in April. Two days later,
black-masked assailants armed with guns, grenades and daggers stormed a village
near Maluku's capital Ambon, killing 13 Christians in a pre-dawn attack.
Thalib's trial is being closely watched by the U.S., which hailed his arrest as a sign
that Indonesia is cooperating in the U.S.-led war on terrorism. It resumes August 29.
The reformist administration of Indonesia's former President Abdurrahman Wahid
accused hardline elements in the army of setting up the Laskar Jihad militia and
dispatching it to the Malukus in order destabilize the government and prevent reforms.
Large-scale inter-communal fighting there ended last year after Wahid was impeached
with the help of army generals. Although some militants later left for other trouble
spots, many of Laskar Jihad's rank and file members remain in the islands.
Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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