Calm returns to Central Maluku district of Amahai

Calm returns to Central Maluku district of Amahai

JAKARTA (JP): Police detained at least 35 alleged rioters in
the Central Maluku district of Amahai as calm returned to the
area.

Local police chief Lt. Col. Benny van Blouw was quoted by
Antara as saying on Sunday the suspects, who were arrested on
Saturday night, were being questioned.

He added that order in the district and other areas in the
regency had been restored. The head of the Armed Forces' special
task force in Maluku, Maj. Gen. Suaedi Marasabessy, and the
province's chief of police, Col. Bugis Saman, visited Amahai on
Saturday.

At least two people in the district were killed in communal
clashes which erupted on Thursday. A woman identified as Eda
Tuakia was slain during the unrest, while a man identified as
Bachrum died at the local hospital from injuries sustained during
the violence. Bachrum was one of three people injured in the
clashes.

Benny said five of the detained suspects allegedly were
involved in the killings, while the other 30 detainees were
suspected of burning 21 houses in the latest unrest to hit Maluku
in the past three months.

Religious-related riots exploded in the Maluku capital of
Ambon in mid-January, claiming nearly 200 lives. Just a week
after clashes in Ambon ceased, unrest erupted in the southeast
Maluku islands, killing at least 80 more.

On Saturday, Benny told The Jakarta Post from the Central
Maluku capital of Masohi, 12 kilometers southeast of Amahai, that
Eda's body was buried in Pelau on Haruku Island on Friday.

Maruf, a physician at Masohi General Hospital, said the three
injured people, one woman and two men, suffered gunshot and stab
wounds.

"The woman is suffering from a gunshot wound to her chest, one
man has slash wounds to his left arm and stomach and the other
man sustained slash wounds to his head," Maruf said.

Maruf and Bernardus, another physician at the hospital, said
the dead woman and the three injured people were victims of
clashes between Muslims and Christians in Amahai district, some
12 kilometers northwest of Masohi, on Friday.

"The situation is calm but tense now. The market was quiet
this morning and the shops opened for half a day," Maruf said.

Antara also reported clashes in Southeast Maluku over the past
month had destroyed 26 villages and left 112 people dead on three
islands.

At least 164 more were injured and 25,000 refugees have fled
to 12 makeshift shelters. At least 783 houses were either damaged
or torched, the news agency said.

It also quoted a local priest as saying on Saturday that the
bodies of at least 30 people killed in communal clashes in a
village in Kei Kecil district in Southeast Maluku earlier this
month had not been moved because the village is isolated.

Meanwhile in East Nusa Tenggara, the spokesman for the
provincial police, Maj. Sismantoro, said on Saturday that two
people were killed and 168 houses set on fire in a clash between
Dalo and Lao villagers in Manggarai regency on Thursday.

He also said more than 1,200 Dalo villagers had fled to nearby
villages for fear of further violence.

Sismantoro also said 62 Lao villagers were being questioned by
police.

Late polls

Meanwhile, the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the
National Elections Committee will seek every avenue to hold the
polls on time in areas currently vulnerable to unrest, KPU
chairman Rudini said over the weekend.

According to Rudini, the KPU was preparing alternative methods
of balloting in volatile areas in anticipation of security
disturbances which might prevent voters from reaching polling
booths for the June 7 general election.

"I don't know what alternatives we will agree on because I
haven't talked to other KPU members and all concerned parties,
including the police, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the UNDP
(United Nations Development Program)," Rudini said.

He said he would meet National Police chief Gen. Roesmanhadi
this week to discuss overall security preparations for the
election and to evaluate the latest developments in riot-hit
areas.

"KPU will take the police's suggestions on security matters
into consideration when deciding whether polls in these volatile
areas should go on as scheduled," Rudini said.

The 1999 elections law says delayed polls or repeat balloting
may take place within a maximum of 30 days after the original
polls. The Independent Elections Monitoring Commission has
predicted that around 10 percent of the country's 327 regencies
and mayoralties will see late polls due to unrest.

Rudini also said he would visit riot-hit towns in Maluku, West
Kalimantan and East Timor next week.

"The show can still go on in these areas on time if
subdistrict elections committees play an active role by visiting
voters who may be unable to leave their homes due to security
reasons," he said.

The elections committee workers will bring registration forms
with them when visiting voters, according to Rudini.

An estimated 130 million people are expected to cast their
votes at 251,000 polling booths nationwide. (byg/yac/edt)