AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Wednesday February 13, 3:23 PM
Indonesian militant Muslim group refuses to leave Malukus
despite peace pact
JAKARTA (AFP) - A paramilitary Muslim group which had waged a "holy war" against
Christians in the Malukus said it would not leave the eastern islands despite the
signing of a pact to end three years of sectarian bloodshed there. Christian and
Muslim leaders from Maluku on Tuesday signed an agreement at Malino to end the
violence, which has claimed some 5,000 lives. It stipulates that outside forces should
withdraw.
The Laskar Jihad (Jihad Force), which is based on Java island, said its activities in
Maluku centre on "humanitarian work" rather than war. "We have no business with the
Malino agreement because our mission in Maluku focuses on humanitarian work and
every citizen of this country has the right to stay anywhere he wants," the group's
spokesman, Ayip Syarifuddin, told AFP Wednesday. In May 2000 Laskar Jihad -- with
the apparent connivance of security forces -- sent thousands of fighters to the islands.
The peace deal calls for an independent inquiry into the activities of Laskar Jihad as
well as into two Christian separatist groups, the Front for the Sovereignty of Maluku
and the South Maluku Republic (RMS) movement, and a Christian group called
Laskar Kristus. The pact says all unauthorised armed groups should surrender their
weapons or be disarmed. "For those outside parties that are sowing unrest in Maluku,
they are obligated to leave Maluku." Christians accuse Laskar Jihad of worsening the
bloodshed while Muslims blame the Christian separatist movements. "If the
government has a strong and plausible reason for us to leave Maluku, we will gladly
do so, but so far we have not done anything illegal in Maluku," Syarifuddin said.
"The presence of the RMS is right in front of us yet the authorities are not doing
anything to this group," he said, adding that Laskar Jihad banned its members from
carrying weapons. Catholic priest Cornelis Bohm, of the Crisis Center of Ambon
diocese, said Christians would demand "strong and decisive actions" to expel Laskar
Jihad from Maluku.
"Their image as killers and provocateurs of war is so deeply rooted here that no
Christian in Maluku will ever believe their claim (to be) a humanitarian non-government
organisation," Bohm said. President Megawati Sukarnoputri welcomed the peace
deal, the second negotiated by her ministers in two months. A December agreement
ended Muslim-Christian fighting in the Poso region of Central Sulawesi. Top welfare
minister Yusuf Kalla said Jakarta would soon send judges as well as more troops and
police to the Malukus. Asked about Laskar Jihad's stance, he said: "I have
approached them", but did not elaborate. Commentators said police and troops must
stop taking sides if the peace deal is to work. The International Crisis Group (ICG), in
a report last week, said there was little confidence among the local population that
government forces would protect them from further attacks because they were seen to
have taken sides. "This perception is particularly strong among Muslims, which has
made it politically difficult for government officials to act against Laskar Jihad," the
report said.
The ICG said continuing sporadic attacks and bombings were not necessarily linked
to religious groups. "There are indications that the security forces themselves have an
interest in maintaining an atmosphere in which business people and property owners
feel vulnerable and are willing to pay for protection." Asmara Nababan, secretary
general of the National Commission on Human Rights, said the agreement was
"concrete in terms of support from both sides" but police, troops and officials must act
impartially. The Maluku bloodshed drove more than half a million people from their
homes in the former Spice Islands. More than 80 percent of Indonesia's 214 million
people are Muslims but in some eastern regions Christians make up about half the
population.
Copyright © 2001 AFP. All rights reserved.
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