AGO to send more prosecutors to Maluku in a bid to end strife

Kurniawan Hari and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Law enforcement, the Achilles heel in the painstaking efforts to restore peace in Maluku, looks set to receive a further boost after the Attorney General's Office revealed a plan to send more prosecutors to the restive province.

The office's spokesman, Barman Zahir, said on Wednesday that Attorney General M.A. Rachman instructed on May 19 a dispatch of 20 prosecutors from various regions in the country to enable prosecution in Maluku, which has been racked by violence since January 1999.

Barman, however, failed to reveal when the reinforcement of prosecutors could start working in Maluku. Normally it takes a judge or prosecutor some three months to prepare themselves for new assignments.

The Supreme Court had previously assigned 22 senior judges to serve district courts and the high court of the troubled province.

Barman said the prosecutors would soon be flown to Maluku and would serve at the prosecutor's office, moving from their original posts in East Java, Jakarta, Aceh, South Sulawesi, Central Java, Riau, Lampung and South Sumatra.

Currently, there are only 15 prosecutors left in Maluku, far below the ideal number of 43 prosecutors and 47 administrative staff.

The lack of prosecutors, in addition to security problems, was the reason why the Maluku prosecutor's office shifted its prosecution of the leaders of the Maluku Sovereign Front (FKM), which includes Alex Manuputty, and the commander of Laskar Jihad, Ja'far Umar Thalib, to Jakarta.

The sending of judges and prosecutors is stipulated in the Malino II peace deal between the warring groups in Maluku and is a necessity to strengthen the civil emergency administration.

The government has also strengthened security forces there by establishing the Security Restoration Operations Command led by Maj. Gen. Djoko Santoso, who is also entrusted to head Pattimura Military Command, replacing Brig. Gen. Moestopo.

Many have raised their eyebrows in response to the decision to launch a military-led operation, saying that teamwork between the civilian administration and the security forces is the key to restoring peace in the province.

Chairman of the largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Hasyim Muzadi, said the replacement of military or police chiefs in Maluku was not the answer to the prolonged sectarian conflict in the province.

"The key word is coordination between the military and the police," he told reporters, after visiting his predecessor Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, who is currently in hospital being treated for a blood vessel problem.

Hasyim, who led a mission of religious leaders to Maluku recently, said the people of Maluku were sick and tired of fighting each other and were aware that they must stick together.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation (YLBHI) pointed out that the establishment of the operations command proves that the concept of territorial command had failed to restore security in the country, as the Maluku military command has been considered ineffective in overcoming the sectarian conflict.

YLBHI's civil and political division head, Munarman, told a media briefing that the promotion of Djoko Santoso to head both the operations command and the military command in Maluku signaled the military's attempt to achieve political power as well as to provide key posts for their two-star generals.

"The government should dissolve territorial command while the People's Consultative Assembly should ask the President to account for the running of the civil emergency state in Maluku before the government endorses other measures there," Munarman said.

However, People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais supported the new security operation, saying the nation had been longing to see security and order restored in Maluku for years.

"If it is for the sake of security and conflict resolution, I agree. I hope the military will not use weapons and kill people who stage demonstrations," he told the press here on Wednesday.

"I think it is worth a try. Let's give them a chance."