Disputing groups in Maluku agree to find solutions

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)