Calls intensify for restraint in Ambon

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)