Civil emergency in Maluku fails to restore order

AMBON, Maluku (JP): The civil emergency status currently imposed in riot-torn Maluku has failed to bring order back to the territory, speaker of the provincial legislative council Etty Sahuburua said on Wednesday.

He said instead of restoring peace, tension remains and violence has worsened since the emergency status took effect late in June.

Sahuburua said violence has been on the rise over the past few months because Jakarta and the local administration did not put enough pressure on the local political elite and security authorities to stop the prolonged sectarian conflict.

"The unabated unrest in the territory reflects the failure of the government and local administration to cope with the violence and settle the prolonged conflict," he said.

As if to add insult to injury, the police and military seemed unwilling to conduct investigations into the illegal use of military ammunitions by rioters, Sahuburua said.

"We have received reports from residents whose villages were attacked by the rioters, that they found in the location evidence of the illegal use of military ammunitions," the councillor, who is also provincial chairman of the Golkar Party, said.

He was referring to the recent findings of ammunition fragments bearing military registration codes at the blast sites.

The use of modern weapons by rioters in their recent attacks, Sahuburua said, had multiplied the number of fatalities of innocent residents.

"I'm sure that the police and the military are capable of tracing the supplier of the rioters' ammunitions," he said.

He said the investigation into the illegal use of military ammunitions would help the security authorities block access to the ammunitions supply and handle the situation.

Earlier this month, spokesman for the Ambon Military District Command Capt. C.A.J. Heri Suhardi hinted a possible smuggling of military ammunitions into the territory.

However, Pattimura Military Commander in charge of Maluku Brig. Gen. I Made Yasa ruled out the possibility of the illegal use of military weapons, saying that soldiers deployed in the area were only equipped with SS-1 or M-16 rifles and mortar launchers.

Maluku Police Chief Brig. Gen. Firman Gani said the rioters could have used police weapons they looted during an attack on the Mobile Brigade arsenal in Tantui area, Sirimau district in June.

Separately on Wednesday, residents in Suli village, Salahutu district in Ambon, questioned the local authorities' failure to prevent 'migrant rioters' from outside Maluku from entering their territory.

Maluku Civil Emergency Post's spokesman John Tomasoa said his office had received complaints from Suli religious leaders about the migrant rioters.

"Local residents said they have buried the rioters and identified most of them as migrants. Some of the identity cards found showed that the people came from several cities on Java island," he said.

Civil emergency ruler Maluku Governor Saleh Latuconsina issued a decree in July, instructing the military command and the Naval base to check all migrants and their cargo to curb firearms smuggling and migrant rioters.

Earlier on Wednesday, residents in Mardikaa, Sirimau district reported their village was attacked by rioters coming from neighboring Batumerah.

A similar attack also came from Waihaong to neighboring Tanah Lapang Kecil, also in Sirimau district, some 1.5 kilometers away from Mardika.

Tension mounted as residents observed a mass concentration in Waihaong following the mortar attacks, but one company of Marines were deployed and were able to maintain security in the area.

Later on Wednesday, Ambon Military Command dispatched two tanks and two armored vehicles to the conflict-prone border areas in Sirimau district. (49/lup)