Civil emergency in Maluku fails to restore order

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)