Civil emergency fails to promote peace in Maluku
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The imposition of civil emergency in restive Maluku and North Maluku has failed to promote peace and reconciliation between warring groups in the two provinces, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) said on Saturday, urging the government to immediately lift the policy.
"Data show that a three-year sectarian conflicts in Maluku and North Maluku have claimed the lives of around 8,000 innocent people, and forced another 227,000 to live in refugees camps without any hope that their life would return to normal," coordinator of National Commission for Missing Person and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Ori Rachman said in a press conference on Saturday.
Aside from Kontras, the Institute for Studies on Free Flow of Information (ISAI) and three NGOs coming from Maluku and North Maluku provinces -- Tapak Ambon, Parigi, and Setapak Community.
According to the NGOs, the imposition of civil emergency in the provinces since April 2000 was merely aimed at justifying the presence of thousands of troops, who have come under strong criticism for allegedly taking sides with one of the warring parties.
Maluku has been plagued by a religious conflict which has killed more than 5,000 people since it broke out in January 1999.
Ori said many children failed to obtain education as school facilities have been burned down in the past three years.
"The province's annual income has plummeted from Rp 5.7 billion in 1998 to its current level of Rp 254 million due to the conflict," said Ori, urging the government to formulate a clear policy on how to rehabilitate the living condition of local people there rather than "defending the imposition of civil emergency in the region."
He further questioned the government, the Indonesian Military (TNI) chief and the National Police chief for not imposing stern sanctions to security personnel who have failed to stay impartial, further worsening the situation in the provinces.
Earlier, a group of lawyers from the two provinces -- 15 Christians and 15 Muslims -- urged the government and military leadership to withdraw immediately troops sent there as reinforcement forces.
Following the imposition of civil emergency in the provinces in 1999, the TNI headquarters has deployed between 9,000 and 11,000 troops there.
Sources at the Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs' office told The Jakarta Post recently that the situation in Maluku has worsened due to the presence of separatist movement called as Maluku Independence Front (FKM), forcing the central government to maintain the civil emergency status in the provinces.
But Dino Umahuk, an activist of the Parigi, denied the allegation of separatist movement, saying that "such of reaction (separatist) is due to the lack of concern on the part of central government to immediately settle the prolonged conflict with clear policies."
"The military has only used the separatist issue to defend their presence there. We, however, do not see FKM and the Republic of South Maluku (RMS) independence movements as a threat to the people there," Dino said.
The NGOs also called on the military to bring to justice personnel found to have committed gross human rights violation in the provinces.
"The National Commission on Human Rights has once recommended an incident at Kebon Cengkih village last year as gross human rights violation, and therefore military authorities must send the perpetrators to a military tribunal. But to date, there are no response from the military over the recommendation," Ori complained.
He was referring to clashes between military personnel and Laskar Jihad militias in Galunggung and Kebon Cengkih villages on June 14, 2001, which claimed 20 lives, including one soldier, wounded 30 others. The troops arrested 20 armed militia members.
"We are also disappointed because the troops there failed to disarm militias as hundreds of homemade weapons and bombs are still around, as well as TNI and police's organic weapons," Ori said.