C. Maluku still tense after riots

C. Maluku still tense after riots

JAKARTA (JP): More people perished as the protracted communal
clashes in Maluku spread to Masohi, the main town of Seram
island, over the weekend.

Minor clashes and tension were reported on Sunday, although
order has generally been restored on the Central Maluku island.

There were conflicting versions of the death toll, with Antara
putting it at 15 when the fighting broke out on Saturday. A local
journalist from the Suara Maluku daily, who identified himself as
Petrus, told The Jakarta Post by phone that at least 58 people
were killed during the day. A keeper at the Al-Ikhlas Mosque in
Masohi, who requested anonymity, told the Post he saw six Muslims
and 30 others injured.

At least two security personnel were wounded in the fray,
according to the mosque keeper.

Antara reported that most of the victims of the violence died
of gunshot wounds, stabbings and explosions from homemade bombs.

Scores of houses and other buildings were gutted by fire
during the unrest. Thousands of residents, whose homes were
attacked or who were fleeing the violence, sought refuge at
military and public facilities in the small town.

Local security authorities were not available for comment.

The mosque keeper said the incident erupted at around 6 a.m.
on Saturday when dozens of unidentified people threw homemade
bombs at Kampong Sugiarto, a predominantly Muslim village.

Some three hours later, the village residents fought back.

"But minutes later a group of National Police Mobile Brigade
officers arrived and opened fire on the crowd," he said.

Petrus, who sheltered at a nearby Catholic convent in order to
send information to his office in Ambon, said Saturday's clash
ended with the burning and destruction of a number of houses in
the Bahtera housing complex on Jl. Abdullah Soulissa, in Lesane
and Letwaru villages, dozens of downtown shops, the Masohi bus
terminal and a church.

"It's relatively calm now, but shootings and explosions can
still be heard here and there," he said.

Rev. Fin Seipattiratu, who lives in Soahuku, around seven
kilometers east of Masohi, said the explosions, believed to come
from gunshots, and the burning, continued on Sunday morning but
gradually subdued later in the afternoon.

She said Soahuku residents had prepared to leave the village
for fear of the escalating clashes.

"I can't leave because I'm a reverend. What if my followers
need me here?" she told the Post.

The clash in Masohi was the latest to rock Maluku, once dubbed
the spice islands, following bloodshed in Tobelo in North Maluku
and Ambon, just after a semblance of peace at Christmas.

An official at the Ternate Logistic Agency, Yusuf Bin Ali,
said a throng of people stole 1,020 tons of rice stock stored in
two separate warehouses during the bloody clashes on Thursday
last week.

"We will now run out of rice and won't be able to provide
enough supply for the people," he said on Saturday.

Tension remained high in North Maluku following the three-day
clashes, which claimed at least 265 lives, making it the
bloodiest sectarian riot the country has seen in decades.

Thousands of people have fled their homes to nearby Ternate
island for safety.

Meanwhile in Ambon, the police and military confiscated three
police standard guns of the Indonesian Military (TNI), 64
weapons, 22 homemade bombs and a Korean grenade which was also of
police standard from residents in a massive sweep for illegal
weapons on Sunday.

"The three standard guns are two pistols and an SS1 rifle,"
Pattimura military chief Brig. Gen. Max Tamaela said as quoted by
Antara.

Hundreds of weapons had been seized in the house-to-house
searches conducted by soldiers and policemen. They included
arrows, machetes and daggers.

Following a raid in the Urimessing housing complex, a homemade
bomb which was thrown by an unidentified crowd, wounded two
residents in the abdomen, head and feet.

In Jakarta, Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and
Security Gen. Wiranto dismissed the possibility of seeking
foreign help to solve the communal conflict in Maluku.

"The important thing to solve the problem in Ambon is that
people should obey the law," Wiranto said.

Wiranto proposed a territorial separation between Christian
and Muslim groups before holding a dialogue between the warring
parties, with the government serving as the mediator.

"Therefore, other regions (in the country) need not give
support which could adversely create pros and cons, and not
necessarily invite the intervention of foreign sides," he said.

The rejection of foreign peacekeeping, however, was also
voiced by many others including members of the House of
Representatives.

The Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI) had earlier
called for the participation of the United Nations to restore
peace in Maluku. The call was made in response to the
government's inability to bring about peace after almost a year
of conflict.

Chairman of the Reform Faction at the People's Consultative
Assembly A.M. Fatwa shared Wiranto's view on territorial
separation as a preliminary step to restore peace in Ambon.

"The separation is not a long-term solution but it can help
stop the manslaughter in the province," he told reporters in
Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi. (emf/27)