Tual clashes claim three lives<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Security personnel fired shots to disperse
\nbattling Christians and Muslims in the Maluku city of Tual,
\nAntara reported. At least three were killed, while 19 others were
\ninjured in the violence, the news agency said.<\/p>\n
An AFP report, however, put the death toll on Friday to at
\nleast seven.<\/p>\n
Antara said two of the dead were identified as Sodikin Sominto
\nand Abdul Ghani Renhora, while the third had yet to be
\nidentified. Most of the injured sustained bullet and knife
\nwounds.<\/p>\n
At least two battalions of riot personnel were deployed to
\nstop the clash, reportedly attempting to disperse rioters by
\nshooting at their legs. As of late Friday, tension remained high,
\nas gunshots and explosions from homemade bombs were heard
\nsporadically.<\/p>\n
The riot was the latest outburst of religious unrest in Maluku
\nprovince, where more than 300 people have died this year. Dozens
\nof churches and mosques have been burned.<\/p>\n
Residents told AFP that Christians hurled Molotov cocktails at
\nhouses and fought Muslim groups with spears and knives. Some
\nwomen took part in the fighting.<\/p>\n
Witnesses said they saw the bodies of five Muslims and two
\nChristians. At least 19 people suffered bullet or knife wounds.<\/p>\n
\"I saw two men who were killed by knives and arrows,\" said a
\nwitness who requested anonymity.<\/p>\n
The military has struggled to contain frequent outbursts of
\nunrest over the past year. Religious and ethnic tensions,
\neconomic hardship and disputes over the course of the transition
\nto democracy have fueled violence since the downfall last May of
\nauthoritarian president Soeharto.<\/p>\n
Maluku was known during the Dutch colonial period as the Spice
\nIslands. Tual is 2,800 kilometers east of here. Most of
\nIndonesia's 210 million people are Muslims, but Maluku province
\nhas a large Christian population.<\/p>\n
In Ujungpandang, the capital of South Sulawesi, a sociologist
\nquestioned the repatriation of Muslim Bugis and Makassar refugees
\nto the Maluku capital of Ambon. He said it would take the
\nrefugees more than just a month to recover from their traumatic
\nexperiences of violence.<\/p>\n
\"This sending home of refugees is more a political act than
\n(one that is) social in nature,\" Muhammad Darwis of Hassanuddin
\nUniversity told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
If the repatriation was meant to indicate that normalcy had
\nreturned to Maluku, then the involved parties were only
\nexploiting the refugees as a commodity, Darwis said, calling for
\na review of the policy.<\/p>\n
Estimates of refugees from Maluku vary, but the most recent
\nfigures put the figures at more than 50,000.<\/p>\n
Over the past week, the local organization KOMPAK had sent
\nback to Ambon over 1,000 Bugis and Makassar refugees who were
\nMuslims.<\/p>\n
From the sociological point of view, Darwis said refugees
\nwould need at least five months to recover from their
\npsychological trauma.<\/p>\n
\"Give them a chance to heal their traumatic experience. Then,
\nwe return them,\" he added.<\/p>\n
KOMPAK coordinator, Tamzil Linrung, however, said his
\norganization had considered the aspect but decided to help return
\nthe refugees because the situation allowed it.<\/p>\n
\"It's not done without foresight,\" he said. (27\/aan)<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/tual-clashes-claim-three-lives-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }