Double murder could shatters peace in Maluku

Octovianus Pinontoan, The Jakarta Post, Ambon

A Christian man and his daughter have been stabbed to death in Maluku, in yet another setback for peace in the province.

Local security authorities were on Tuesday searching for the killers of Alexander Tuaasa, 46, and his 15-year-old daughter Metti Tuaasa, both residents of Hative Besar village in the subdistrict of Teluk Ambon Pakuala.

Maluku Police chief Brig. Gen. Soenarko said the bodies were found on Sunday.

Local police and military are searching the district for the murderers, Soenarko said.

However, no suspects had been identified by Wednesday.

"We don't know yet what was the motive behind the incident," Ambon Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Noviantoro said.

He said the victims had disappeared after they went to their plot of farm land near the village on Saturday morning.

"The two victims went to a farm plot at 9 a.m. local time, but did not go home in the nighttime. Worried about the fates of the father and her daughter, their family reported the case to neighbors," he said.

"The search for the victims then started and they were found dead at 4:30 a.m. (on Sunday) around five kilometers from Hative Besar or 200 meters from their farming land."

Noviantoro said autopsies showed Tuaasa was fatally stabbed in the chest, while Metti died from several knife wounds to her body.

The deaths were the first casualties recorded in Maluku since Muslim and Christian leaders signed a peace accord on Feb. 12 to end years of sectarian fighting.

The agreement had been greeted with a week of street parades through the provincial capital Ambon, in which once-warring Muslims and Christians mingled for the first time since 1999.

However, the parades were at least twice marred by violent protests by a minority group of local Muslims opposed to the pact.

Maluku Governor Saleh Latuconsina, who is also chief of the province's civil emergency authority, on Tuesday created a joint investigation team comprising police, military officers and civil servants.

The team would coordinate law-enforcement efforts and prevent the authorities avoiding their respective responsibilities, Latuconsina said.

"It is hoped that there will be no longer those blaming others. With the team, we want the law enforcement to be upheld according to the people's hopes," he said.

The three-year war, which first broke out on Jan. 19, 1999, has killed 6,000 people and forced 500,000 others to flee the ravaged province.

Most of the province's judges, prosecutors and civil servants have also abandoned Maluku since the fighting began.