Calls intensify for restraint in Ambon

JAKARTA (JP): Calls mounted on Tuesday for hostile religious groups in Ambon to keep their cool as more lives were lost from the weeks of clashes.

"We call on people from both sides to put down their weapons and work together to restore peace and order in Ambon," Ambon Bishop Mandagi told The Jakarta Post by phone from the devastated Maluku capital.

Mandagi represented a group of local religious leaders and intellectuals from state Pattimura University who met earlier in the day with Maj. Gen. Suaidy Marasabessy. The latter heads a 19- strong special military task force assigned by Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto to stop the bloodshed.

Head of Maluku's Indonesian Council of Ulemas chapter Hasanussy and Rev. Sammy Titalei of the Maluku Protestant Church also attended the meeting.

Antara reported two people were killed and at least 26 injured when a mob armed with machetes, spears and Molotov cocktails attacked a truck loaded with passengers in Passo village, about 15 kilometers east of Ambon, on Monday afternoon. Hasanussy confirmed the ambush, according to the news agency.

The dead were identified as Mohammad Ohorella, 22, and La Anton, 30. Antara said the attackers set the truck on fire.

The news agency quoted a witness, Muhammad Temyawut, 25, as saying the victims came from the predominantly Muslim Wakal village in Central Maluku regency, about 40 kilometers north of Ambon.

A member of the joint command post at the Maluku military headquarters said he could not confirm the attack.

Authorities have said that at least 170 people have been killed and more than 400 injured since Muslim-Christian clashes erupted in mid-January.

Antara also reported that sporadic clashes occurred in a number of areas in the city on Tuesday despite the presence of troops.

Basic commodities have reportedly started to vanish as shipping of supplies has been suspended since renewed clashes broke out in Batu Merah downtown on Feb. 23.

Safety

Meanwhile, Minister of Health Farid Anfasa Moeloek has asked the security authorities and informal leaders for safety guarantees for hundreds of doctors and paramedics posted in Ambon and Dili, East Timor.

Farid said in an internal discussion at the Antara news agency on Tuesday security fears were looming large among the medical workers, with many of them already fleeing the two volatile towns.

Farid said the ministry did not plan to provide replacements for the fleeing doctors. He asked the Armed Forces to send doctors to Ambon and Dili.

The ministry has since Jan. 19 forwarded medicines, paramedics and ambulances to about 40,000 refugees in Ambon. The second medical package was dispatched on March 1.

Along with the medicines, cash totaling Rp 180.9 million (US$20.300), 70,000 packs of instant noodles, sports equipment, writing books, thousands of contraceptive devices, 12.5 tons of rice and construction materials to build 200 houses were sent to Ambon using four Navy ships.

In Semarang, the local Muhammadiyah youth group is preparing at least 5,000 paramedics and 20,000 civilian recruits who will try to help hostile parties reach a peaceful settlement in Ambon while coping with possible social and health problems.

Group leader Abdul Mu'ti said the youths opposed a demand to initiate a holy war in Ambon because it was against the peace- seeking character of Islam and would only spark retaliation in the country's other areas where Muslims are a minority.

"Both Muslims and Christians should maintain their cool, instead of mobilizing people for a religious war," Mu'ti said.

A number of Muslim groups have insisted on sending volunteers to help their fellows in Ambon combat their foes, seeking to bring an end to the conflict which broke out in mid January.

"Indeed Islam obliges a jihad to protect Muslims who are oppressed. But Islam also teaches the use of deliberation to solve a problem in a fair and impartial manner, and it must be a better option," Mu'ti said.

Elsewhere in the Central Java capital, about 50 Walisongo State Islamic Institute students rallied in the local legislative body to demand the government stop the conflict in Ambon. The same rally was also staged by hundreds of students grouped in the Indonesian Muslim Student Movement.

Meanwhile, in the South Sulawesi capital of Ujungpandang, thousands of students took to the streets on Tuesday to express grief over the deaths of fellow Muslims. They demanded a halt to violence in Ambon. (27/har/byg/amd)