Govt acts on FKM, troublemakers in Maluku

Tiarma Siboro and Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has issued a directive ordering the dissolution of the pro-independence Maluku Sovereignty Front(FKM), and the expulsion of reputed troublemakers, including the militant Laskar Jihad, from Maluku.

Comr. Gen. Ahwil Luthan, inspector general at National Police Headquarters, said the directive, which was aimed at ending the prolonged conflict, took effect on May 8, 2002.

"The directive is effective as of today (Wednesday) but its enforcement depends on the Maluku authorities," he said after a ministerial meeting on security and political affairs here on Wednesday.

Ahwil represented National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, who is visiting Japan.

The directive, Ahwil said, also asked the security authorities and all security personnel deployed in the province to launch door-to-door raids to disarm militias and their supporters, and for law enforcers to investigate all violations of the law that had occurred during the three-year-old conflict.

Ahwil further said that the recent arrest of Laskar Jihad commander Ja'far Umar Thalib was due to his alleged violation of Articles 134, 136, 154 and 160 of the Criminal Code through his slandering of the President, spreading enmity against the government and inciting the people to violence.

Separately, analysts blamed the Indonesian Military (TNI) for the mounting problems in the troubled Maluku islands following the signing of a peace deal last February.

They strongly urged that firm action be taken against Maluku's Pattimura Military Commander Brig. Gen. Moestopo for what they termed his reluctance to prevent violence in the islands.

"The Pattimura Military Commander has sabotaged the Malino agreement by allowing fresh attacks to occur," prominent sociologist Tamrin Amal Tomagola told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a seminar here on Wednesday.

He was referring to the peace accord signed on Feb. 12 in the South Sulawesi hill resort of Malino by Muslim and Christian leaders to end the three-year conflict in Maluku, which has led to the deaths of some 6,000 people.

Tamrin of the Jakarta's state-run University of Indonesia said that under the Maluku state of civil emergency, in effect since July 2000, the provincial police chief was responsible for security in Maluku. But, in reality, Moestopo had been taking control there.

"As the civil emergency authority's chief, Maluku Governor Saleh Latuconsina has also been rendered impotent as he has been cut out of the equation by the Pattimura Military Commander," he added.

He refrained from urging TNI Chief Adm. Widodo A.S. to sack Moestopo for his failure to enforce the law against troublemakers in Maluku, but said the relevant authorities should first investigate the reasons behind his inaction.

Kusnanto Anggoro, a political scientist with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), concurred with Tamrin.

He said the Pattimura military leaders were guilty of insubordination against the Maluku civil emergency authority in its efforts to restore peace to the islands.

"It's true that there has been a tendency for the military to try to sabotage the Malino peace deal," Kusnanto said on Wednesday, adding that Latuconsina had been deprived of control in Maluku.

More than 20 people have been killed in the fresh violence that broke out despite the historic peace pact, including a powerful bombing and the burning of the governor's office last month.

The latest violence came late last month when a gang of masked, well-trained assailants attacked the Christian village of Soya, near the Maluku capital of Ambon.

Tamrin further said that the recent series of attacks were perpetrated by non-Maluku people, or outsiders, and were aimed at provoking more sectarian fighting between local Muslims and Christians.

"Actually the grassroots are already prepared to comply with the Malino peace agreement. It is in reality the central and local elite who are not ready to do so," Tamrin said.

He cited as an example the fact that the central government had yet to establish an independent team to investigate the sectarian conflict, and those involved, a commitment which was part of the peace pact.

Another reason, Tamrin said, was the struggle for power between the military and civilian leaders as Latuconsina's term of office would end on May 10.