Army deserter apprehended as suspected separatist
M. Azis Tunny, Ambon, Maluku
A team of soldiers from the Indonesian Military (TNI) has arrested a deserter in Ambon charged with membership of the separatist movement, the Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM), an official said on Saturday.
The arrest, the first of its kind, was made some three weeks after a riot broke out in the Maluku provincial capital, Ambon, which killed 39 and wounded hundreds of others. A rally held by the members of the separatist movement was believed to have triggered the rampage, the largest after the Malino Peace pact was signed two years ago.
Maj. Gen. Syarifuddin Sumah, the chief of Pattimura Military Command overseeing Maluku island, said that the person in question was First. Corp. Benyamin Yakob Sinay, a former officer at Ambon island Military Precinct, who was arrested by the team on Thursday in Mahia, Nusaniwe district, Ambon city.
Sinay had been declared a deserter since September 18 last year.
The team of soldiers confiscated six homemade rifles, a pistol, two homemade bombs and several live rounds from him.
Sinay was arrested on the basis of an intelligence report that he had joined the separatist movement, which has long dreamed of establishing an independent state, the South Maluku Republic (RMS).
The team of soldiers also found other strong evidence that linked Sinay with the movement. The deserter was listed in the list of 259 members of the FKM discovered by security personnel in a house belonging to DR. Alex Manuputty, the exiled FKM chairman. The document was found during a raid on Manuputty's house in Kudamati, in early May.
"Sinay is being prosecuted. He could face a lengthy jail sentence because he is a soldier who has tried to betray the nation," said Syarifuddin, after a military function at the Pattimura Military Command Headquarters.
The two-star general also said after the function that the Military and police would intensify door-to-door searches for homemade or factory-made rifles and pistols.
Circulation of such weapons in the hands of civilians has been a cause of concern for security authorities in Ambon, as it could worsen conflict in the capital.
Some 800 police weapons have been in the hands of civilians since sectarian conflict in 2000, after mobs both destroyed and removed weapons from the police Mobile Brigade arsenal in Tantui, Ambon.
Meanwhile, four suspects held after a bloody rampage last month escaped from their cells in the Maluku Police Headquarters. Maluku Police deputy chief Sr. Comr. Bambang Suadi confirmed the escape, but refused to spell out in detail how the four had escaped.
"We are investigating the incident," he said.
Separately, a top official from the Maluku provincial administration revealed on the same day that the April 25 rampage, which lasted around two weeks, had cost Maluku residents and the provincial government Rp 33 billion (US$ 3.7 million). "That is a huge loss for us," said Maluku Governor Karel Albert Ralahalu.
He said that the Maluku government had received Rp 1 billion in aid from the central government, and the funds had been used to renovate and rebuild refuges. He hoped that more aid would flow into Maluku.
Besides fatalities, the latest conflict also resulted in arson to 536 houses, and forced more than 10,000 people to take refuge for safety. They were mostly from Nusaniwe, Sirimau and Teluk Ambon districts. The situation has now returned to normal.
The rampage broke out after a rally held by the FKM to commemorate the 54th anniversary of the RMS in the Maluku capital, Ambon. Fortunately, the rampage did not lead to massive sectarian conflict between Muslims and Christians, as happened five years ago, when thousands of Muslims and Christians were killed and hundreds of thousands of others were forced to flee Maluku to safety.