The Age [Australia], June 12, 2004 - 6:05PM
Indonesian soldiers on trial
Three Indonesian soldiers have gone on trial before a military tribunal in Indonesia's
Maluku islands for allegedly fuelling a rebellion by taking photographs with a
separatist flag, a prosecutor said.
The soldiers disobeyed their superior's orders to immediately turn over the flag
following a violent separatist rally in April and instead held it aloft to pose for
photographs, said prosecutor Major Yon Elfi Suheimi.
"Residents saw the soldiers pose with the flags at a church which gave the
impression that they supported the separatist group. This created unrest among the
people," Suheimi said at the start of the military tribunal in Ambon district court.
If found guilty the three could be jailed for two years, he said.
The defence attorney, Major Edi Ruslan, argued that the men did not support the
separatist group but "only took photographs of themselves with the flag as a memory
of their tour of duty, which is not banned by law."
Clashes between Christians and Muslims erupted on April 25 after several members
of the banned Christian separatist group, the Maluku Sovereignty Front, rallied in the
provincial capital Ambon for an independent homeland known as the South Maluku
Republic.
Muslims, who view such public displays as a provocation, assaulted the
demonstrators, touching off clashes between gangs of Muslim and Christian youths.
The clashes sparked fears that the region could plunge back into Muslim-Christian
battles like those that killed up to 9,000 people three years ago.
Eighty per cent of Indonesia's 210 million people are Muslims, but South Maluku's 2
million inhabitants are evenly divided between Muslims and Christians.
The Malukus were formerly known as the Spice islands.
© 2004 AAP
Copyright © 2004. The Age Company Ltd.
|
