Calls rise for Maluku status review

AMBON, Maluku: Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti promised on Saturday convey a recommendation to the government that the civilian emergency status in Maluku province be lifted soon.

Dorodjatun said it was time for the government to revoke the status, as the security condition in the province, which was once shaken by three years of interreligious fighting since January 1999, was increasingly improving.

"I am actually in no position to decide whether the civilian emergency (status) should be shifted to civilian discipline, but I would like to report to the President that Maluku is heading toward permanent peace," he said.

He also promised to continue encouraging the business world, as well as economy-related institutions, to do business in Maluku, especially in the provincial capital of Ambon.

"I have already requested the Indonesian Economists Association (ISEI) to conduct activities here in the near future to support the local government's attempts to carry out civilian discipline," Dorodjatun added.

Maluku interim governor Sinyo Harry Sarundajang said the lifting of the civilian emergency in Maluku was not mere rhetoric.

"In my capacity as civilian emergency authority chief, together with the provincial legislative assembly and all local figures here, I am committed to asking the central government to review the status," he said.

He indicated that the civilian emergency status will have been lifted by the time the new Maluku governor and deputy governor are installed early next month. -- Antara