Five more Mamasa 'provocateurs' nabbed
Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar
The Indonesian military (TNI) and police personnel arrested on Thursday five more suspects accused of provoking a recent riot in Mamasa regency, West Sulawesi province.
The arrests were made one day after the joint team of police and TNI soldiers apprehended Andi Jalilu, the main suspect behind the recent Mamasa clashes, which claimed at least three lives.
"With the arrest of the six people, including Andi, the security personnel are now tracking down six other (alleged) provocateurs in the Mamasa violence," said Insp. Gen. Saleh Saaf, the chief of South Sulawesi provincial police, who also oversees the newly established West Sulawesi province.
The five suspects arrested by police were Burhanuddin, Darwis, Sudarmin, Kasim and Yahya. Sudarmin and Kasim are allegedly the persons responsible for provoking violence during an earlier clash in Mambi district, Mamasa regency back in July. Meanwhile, Darwis and Yahya were held responsible for violence on Saturday last week in Aralle district, Mamasa regency, in which two were confirmed killed.
The violence dragged on until Monday and another fatality was reported.
Saleh explained that Andi Jalilu, Burhanuddin and Darwis had already been transported to the Pare-Pare regency police station in South Sulawesi for interrogation. The others should arrive by Friday.
According to Saleh, besides focusing on the search of the six other suspects, the security personnel were also doing door-to- door weapons searches in Aralle and Mambi districts. The security personnel also conducted patrols in the two districts to prevent further violence from flaring up.
He claimed that the situation in the two districts was already under police control, but some 1,500 refugees were still living in refugee camps and their relatives' homes because they fear further violence.
Local governments have offered logistical support for the refugees, Saleh added.
The Mamasa conflict has simmered for over two years, since a law was passed splitting Polewali Mamasa into two regencies: Polewali Mamasa and Mamasa. The split drew strong protests from the Muslim migrants, who are mostly clustered in the districts of Aralle, Tabulahan and Mambi. The migrants fear that they would be discriminated against in the newly created regency of Mamasa because its indigenous, predominantly Christian population would be in the majority. Besides the issue of religion, the residents in the three districts also objected to the split on the grounds that the three districts were much closer to Polewali Mamasa regency.
The protests did not change the lawmakers' minds, and it fueled tension in the three districts. Clashes first broke out in September last year between residents supporting the split and others who rejected it. Three people were confirmed killed in those bloody clashes.