Govt acts on FKM, troublemakers in Maluku

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.