Armed Forces to segregate clashing parties in Ambon

Armed Forces to segregate clashing parties in Ambon

JAKARTA (JP): A senior military officer called on Wednesday
for the establishment of a demarcation line to separate
conflicting parties in Ambon as fresh protests mounted over
Monday's shooting incident in Ahuru village in the Maluku
capital.

Governor of the National Resilience Institute Lt. Gen. Agum
Gumelar told a hearing with the House of Representatives
Commission I on security, defense and political affairs that
physical separation was a must in order to prevent the religious
conflicts in the riot-torn city from worsening.

"In the short term at least separation of the Muslims and
Christians has to be effected. The Armed Forces is expected to
stand in the middle of the two conflicting groups and play a
mediatory role," Agum said.

The presence of security forces is now aimed at preventing any
meeting between the two conflicting parties, other than to
restore the order, according to Agum.

Secretary general of the National Defense and Security Council
Lt. Gen. Arifin Tarigan and former Army chief and home affairs
minister Gen. (ret) Rudini, who accompanied Agum in the hearing,
supported Agum's suggestion.

Rudini said massive exoduses of people of the same religion
would sooner or later result in geographical separation of the
conflicting sides.

Meanwhile pressures mounted on Wednesday on the Armed Forces
to probe the Monday shooting allegedly involving police. A number
of Muslims were killed in the incident.

Some 1,000 students grouped in the Indonesian Muslims Action
Student Front (KAMMI) staged a rally in front of the Ministry of
Defense and Security office on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat, Central
Jakarta. They called on Minister of Defense and Security/Armed
Forces Commander Wiranto to catch the culprits and uncover the
causes of the riots, which have been underway for more than one
month.

"It is better for all the nation's leaders to go to Ambon and
arrange a peace settlement among the people," group leader Fitra
Arsil said.

Later in the day at the same spot a group of 100 Ambon people
living in Jakarta followed suit. The group, calling themselves
the Forum Suara Rakyat Maluku (Voice of the Mollucan People's
Forum), urged the Armed Forces to take fast and concrete actions.

The forum coordinator, Christ Latuperissa, said they expected
to hear Wiranto's response within two weeks.

In Bandung, some 150 volunteers grouped in the Gerakan Pemuda
Islam (Islamic Youth Movement) announced they were set for a holy
war in Ambon. According to group leader Yatno Abdullah, the
youths are being trained in Sukabumi and Bandung.

"We have sent one of our female members to Ambon and she
regularly reports any atrocities there," Yatno told reporters
during the group's rally at the local police headquarters.

In Bogor, West Java, 500 students grouped in the Forum
Baranang Siang or Forum Badar held a rally on the Bogor Institute
of Agriculture campus, condemning the continuing fray in Ambon.

"We call on all Muslims to unite.. and for all people to
restrain themselves so they are not easily provoked by rumors
intended to divert our sweeping reform movement," forum
coordinator, Akbar, said.

Another student rally took place in Semarang, Central Java
when 100 students of diversified groups, including KAMMI and the
local Teachers Training Institute, gathered at the Central Java
Police headquarters to call for Wiranto's resignation.

The students said Wiranto had failed to maintain order in the
country. "ABRI (the Armed Forces) must be held responsible for
all of the things which have happened in Ambon," the protesters
shouted.

The students also asked for the political elites not to
further provoke and engineer conflicts but to pool donations for
the victims of the Ambon riots instead.

Separately in Medan, North Sumatra, hundreds of students went
to the North Sumatra Police headquarters to read out a statement
of their concern over the Monday shooting in front of North
Sumatra Police chief Brig. Gen. Sutiyono. The rally caused heavy
traffic congestion in the area.

In its media release, the Justice Party urged Muslims in
troubled Maluku province to defend themselves against the enemy
by arming themselves.

"Self-defense is a human right," the party's president Nur
Mahmudi Ismail said.

Chairman of Muhammadiyah Syafii Maarif in a press release
quoted by Antara condemned the Monday incident and called on all
Muslims to take concrete actions in helping the victims of the
ongoing conflicts in the troubled province.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) slammed
inaccurate, widely-publicized information about conflicts
occurring in Maluku province. The PGI Crisis Center expressed in
a statement Wednesday dismay about unbalanced media reports that
would "mislead the public and Indonesian political community in
particular."

In another related development, chairman of National Mandate
Party (PAN) Amien Rais said in Kudus, Central Java, that he was
ready to mediate in the clash if local residents there wanted him
to do so. (edt/43/21/24/har)