CRISIS CENTRE DIOCESE OF AMBOINA
Jalan Pattimura 32 -- Ambon 97124 -- Indonesia
Tel 0062 (0)911 342195 Fax 0062 (0)911 355337
E-mail: crisiscentre01@hotmail.com
Ambon, May 23, 2004
THE SITUATION IN AMBON/MOLUCCAS – Report No. 438
1. PRESIDENT MEGAWATI ON SEPARATISM IN THE MOLUCCAS - President
Megawati Soekarnoputri arrived in Ambon on Saturday, May 22, to meet with local
religious leaders and public figures, and inaugurate a number of development projects.
Megawati was accompanied by her husband Taufik Kiemas. She was flown by a
helicopter from the airport at Laha, crossing the Bay to Merdeka Square in the middle
of the city of Ambon.
In a one-hour meeting with the President, local religious leaders and public figures
beseeched Megawati to resolve the conflict in Maluku, especially by taking firm action
against the separatists. GPM chairman I.W.J. Hendriks said: "Don`t let people take
actions on their own, because the result will usually be violence, torture and killings".
The President confirmed that she had ordered the eradication of the separatist South
Maluku Republic (RMS), blamed for the renewed clashes in Ambon. She said: "All
forms of separatism must be wiped out because they threaten the Undivided Republic
of Indonesia." She quoted a presidential decree issued in 1950 by president
Soekarno, her father, by which the existence of the RMS was outlawed. She also said
the RMS should not be associated with Christians; there are also Muslims active as
RMS members. "Thus the Christian stigma should be lifted from the FKM/RMS, in
order to prevent continuing religious conflict in the Moluccas", she said. "The RMS
has nothing to do with religion: it is a wholly political issue."
Megawati was in Ambon for only two hours. Apart from meeting with the local
religious leaders and public figures, Megawati also inaugurated a number of road,
bridge and water supply projects spread over various islands. She left for the North
Moluccas Province later in the afternoon.
2. BOMB EXPLOSIONS - This morning at about 9.00 a.m., six people were wounded,
among whom two seriously, when one of them opened a biscuits canister he had
found at the side of the road in Halong Baru, not far from the Naval Base. The canister
turned out to contain a home-made low-explosive bomb, which exploded upon
opening. Another home-made bomb exploded some 30 minutes later in the
Batumerah area. There were no casualties.
C.J.Böhm msc,
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina |
