13 more RMS supporters arrested on treason charge

M. Azis Tunny, The Jakarta Post, Ambon

Maluku Police say they have arrested 13 people for allegedly hoisting flags bearing the symbol of the separatist South Maluku Republic (RMS) on Friday.

The two flags were raised separately in the Hative Besar and Kudamati subdistricts in Ambon, as 299 German tourists on board the MV. C. Columbus cruise ship arrived in the city.

The 13 were detained in connection with the flag raising in Hative Besar. Police are still searching for the perpetrators of the Kudamati incident.

Ambon Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Leonidas Braksan said on Tuesday they had confiscated several items as evidence.

"We did not only seize the flags that the people were flying on Friday, we also confiscated other flags found in their houses," Leonidas said.

Police raided a house of one of the suspects, Abraham Talahaturuson, and confiscated 10 pendants measuring 1.5 by 1.5 meters each, he said.

Leonidas said 65-year-old Abraham was the leader of the group. Two of the detainees, Saleh Siatau and Tomas M, were arrested for hoisting the flag, while eight others -- Yosy Espesy, Carlos Siatau, Joris Talahaturuson, Teky L, Dedy de Fretes, Ivan Sapulete, Markus Lelapary and Deny Renferu -- are being charged with possession of the illegal flags. Police did not name the two people who they said produced the flags.

All were being held in Ambon's Baguala precinct for further questioning, he said.

The 13 people would be charged for committing treason, Leonidas said. If they were convicted, they could be jailed for life.

In a separate case, two students from the Indonesian Christian University in Ambon were convicted for treason on Tuesday and sentenced two years' jail.

An Ambon court judge found the students guilty of raising a RMS flag in Bailoe Siwalima, Ambon, last year.

The students -- Novy Jemi Tapilatu and Ade Chandra Lattan -- were known to have attended separatist meetings held in a house belonging to South Maluku independence leader Alex Manuputty in Kudamati, the judge said.

Manuputty is now living in exile in the United States.