Alex Manuputty fired as civil servant

AMBON, Maluku: Convicted Maluku separatist Alex Manuputty, who was sentenced to four years in prison for treason, has officially been fired as a civil servant at the provincial health office, Governor Karel Albert Ralahalu said on Thursday.

The dismissal of Alex, a doctor at the local health office, was based on Gubernatorial Decree No. 63/2004 issued on Feb. 12.

Alex fled to the United States to escape imprisonment after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal against his four-year-jail term in December.

His wife, Oly Manuputty, said her husband was in San Francisco to struggle for Maluku's independence from Indonesia. She said he no longer sent her money to survive and she and her family were surviving though the "kindness of Alex's sympathizers and close relatives". -- JP