Fishermen still wary over fragile peace

Fishermen still wary over fragile peace

M. Azis Tunny, The Jakarta Post/Ambon

Although the security situation has largely returned to normal in
the formerly riot-torn province of Maluku, people are still
worried about the future of the fragile peace in the province.

The apprehension is manifested, by among other things, the low
number of fishing and cargo ships docking in the Archipelago
Fishery Seaport in the Maluku capital of Ambon.

Instead of docking in the seaport, the fishermen and the
captains of the cargo ships, especially foreign ones, chose to
dock their ships in Halong Seaport in Ambon, which is located
inside the compound of the Ambon Naval base, for security
reasons.

The head of the Maluku Maritime and Fisheries Office, Piet
Norimarna, confirmed that the owners and captains of ships chose
to dock in Halong seaport for security reasons.

"That is their right. And of course, they always pay charges
on time to the Halong port administrator," he said.

Aside from the security issue, Piet explained that the amount
of revenue that the provincial government obtained from docking
services in Maluku seaports amounted to Rp 2.2 billion
(US$234,042) between January to August this year.

Separately, Syafli, the head of Archipelago Fishery Seaport
administration, called on ship owners and captains to feel free
dock their ships in the seaport, saying that the security
situation had returned to normal.

He said that the seaport administrator was cooperating with
security personnel in Ambon, so that if things got worse,
security personnel could be quickly deployed to secure the
seaport and assure the safety of the ships and their crews.

Syafli hoped that the conducive security situation could be
maintained in the province so that it could instill confidence to
investors to put their money in the province, especially in the
maritime and fishery sectors.

Maluku was rocked by sectarian clashes in 1999, when thousands
of people were killed and hundreds of thousands of others had to
take refuge in other provinces in Indonesia. The clashes only
died down in 2003 after the warring camps signed a government-
brokered peace pact in Malino, South Sulawesi province, in 2002.

The conducive situation allowed the central government to lift
the civil emergency in the formerly riot-torn province in
September last year.