Calls rise for Maluku status review

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