The Jakarta Post, 8/19/2002 5:01:35 PM
Trial of Maluku's separatist leader begins in Jakarta
JAKARTA (JP): The trial of Alex Manuputty, a Christian separatist leader in the
Maluku province, began at a court in Jakarta on Monday for allegedly plotting a
rebellion in the province, four days after a Jakarta court began hearing the case
against Ja'far Umar Thalib, leader of the Laskar Jihad Muslim militia charged with
stoking violence in the same province, AP reported.
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. The 54 year-old was born
in Serui, Irian Jaya.
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 Maluku
islands, 2,600 kilometers east of Jakarta, should not be part of Indonesia.
Eighty percent of Indonesia's 210 million people are Muslims, but South Maluku's two
million inhabitants are evenly divided between the two religious groups.
Separately, Jafar Umar Thalib is on trial for allegedly urging 2,500 members of his
militia to "prepare for war" in April. Two days later, mysterious 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 on Aug. 29.
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