Disputing groups in Maluku agree to find solutions
JAKARTA (JP): Local representatives from disputing groups in the strife-torn area of Maluku agreed on Friday to meet and find a solution to the sectarian clashes which have devoured the province since 1999.
Some 1500 people from organizations and social groups working in many areas across the Maluku province will hold a reconciliation meeting on Key Island, Southeast Maluku, next Wednesday.
"The most effective solution for the continuing conflict should come from the local people of Ambon," director of the Go- East Institute, the organizing committee of the event, Ignas Kleden told journalists on Friday.
"This is an initial meeting and we don't expect them to find a solution immediately. We would at least like to convince the warring parties that the only way to end the dispute is through dialog," he said.
Ignas further said he believes that almost 80 percent of Maluku people want to stop the fighting and that it can be achieved if more people show a strong commitment to reconciliation.
The four-day dialog, jointly held by the institute, local Ambon authorities and the Crisis Center Amboina, is intended to provide an opportunity for locals to use their cultural principles of tolerance to end the clashes.
Earlier, a group from the Maluku reconciliation movement held a meeting with House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Akbar Tandjung on Friday to ask for support from the legislators to end the state of civil emergency in the province.
"Let us now decide what to do to end the prolonged conflict, while the security condition is improving in our province," one of the group members, Mahfud Nukuhehe, said in the meeting.
Back in Ambon, Pattimura Military Commander Brig. Gen. I Made Yasa said a major transfer and rotation program for military troops would soon take place in Maluku and North Maluku in a bid to refresh the security forces maintaining law and order in the two disputed provinces.
In North Maluku, Infantry Battalion Yonif 321 Siliwangi of West Java will be replaced by Yonif 742 Udayana of Bali, he said.
"Meanwhile, in the Ambon islands the troops have to wait because there are no replacements for the two battalions 521/Brawijaya and 527/Brawijaya (both in East Java)," Yasa said.
There are a total of eight battalions in Ambon mayoralty and Central Maluku regency, including two joint battalions.
The joint battalion, known by its abbreviation Yongab, comprises three elite military units from the Navy's Marine, Air Force's Paskhas and Army's Kopassus.
The general also announced that a fresh deployment, Joint Battalion III, would soon enter Maluku.
"The first joint battalion has been serving in Ambon for six months and it's time for them to be replaced by the third joint battalion.
"Yongab III is being briefed in Jakarta by local Pattimura military chief of staff and intelligence unit chief as well as trainers at TNI headquarters," the general added.
The joint battalion was established by TNI headquarters, not by the Pattimura Military Command, he said.
"The battalions contain effective riot-breaking troops and I fully support their existence. Therefore, they should be maintained in the Malukus," Yasa said. (49/edt/dja)