Govt new policy on Maluku queried

Govt new policy on Maluku queried

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has been accused of imposing "concealed martial
law" in Maluku, following the restructuring of the security
authorities in which the Indonesian Military (TNI) has been
assigned the day-to-day authority in the strife-ridden province.

Such action was taken after the government's attempts to
impose martial law met widespread opposition.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Thursday the government would
form a new command body for Maluku to take over security from the
provincial police.

However, the composition of the command body, which will be
led by an Army major general with a one-star police officer
serving as deputy chief, contradicts the law.

According to MPR Decree No. 7 on the role of the Indonesian
Military and the National Police, the police are in charge of
security, while the military is in charge of defense matters and,
if needed, to back up the police.

"The move could be considered concealed martial law because
the commanding officer in Maluku will be a two-star general from
the TNI, instead of the police," military analyst Kusnanto
Anggoro said on Sunday.

He told The Jakarta Post that the plan to shift control of
security in the restive province to the military was
"illegitimate" under the law.

The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence
(Kontras) also criticized the decision to restructure the command
structure in Maluku, saying that, in effect it would be the same
as martial law.

"The decision ignores the fact that the involvement of the
military is one of the major factors triggering conflict in
Maluku," it said in a press statement released on Friday.

Kontras said the measure proves the government has attempted
to curtail the authority of the police, as the right force, to
oversee security in the troubled islands.

Richard Louhenapessy, a Golkar legislator at the Maluku
provincial legislature, agreed and asked why the government had
not taken similar measures in Aceh.

"The government is facing a secessionist movement in Aceh, but
the police remain in charge of security matters there. It is
understandable that local people in Maluku are worried by the
government's decision," he told the Post in Maluku on Sunday.

Political and military analysts said they were skeptical of
the effectiveness of the government's move in helping to solve
the conflict, which has claimed more than 6,000 lives in the past
three years.

"Let us wait and see if the plan will really work," Thamrin
Amal Tomagola, a sociologist from University of Indonesia, told
the Post on Friday.

Thamrin expressed his astonishment with the government's plan
as: "Both the Christian and Muslim camps have clearly shown they
are ready to stop fighting".

His observation was shared by Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, a political
analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences.

"It is not impossible that the government will employ the same
pattern of resolution in other conflict areas," Ikrar said,
referring to other flashpoints in the country, including Aceh and
Irian Jaya.

Ikrar said he was skeptical of the effectiveness of such a
measure.

The government announced on Thursday evening that the two-star
army general, assisted by a one-star police general, would work
under the Regional Civil Emergency Administration. The government
imposed a state of civil emergency in North Maluku in June 2000.

"The army general will lead both the military troops and the
police. By so doing, there will be no confusion about who will
give the order," Coordinating Minister for Political and Security
Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said, following a closed-door
meeting attended by Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno,
Widodo, Army Chief of Staff Endriartono Sutarto and National
Police chief Da'i Bachtiar.

Coordination, not weak law enforcement, has been cited as the
reason behind a recent outbreak of conflict in the eastern
Indonesian island, which put in limbo a Feb. 12 peace deal signed
in Malino, South Sulawesi.

The latest brutality occurred when scores of people devastated
the Christian village of Soya on April 28, in which more than 12
people were killed.

Thamrin also rejected the planned military exercise of the
Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) in Maluku in July,
saying it was against the law.

The government has also recently turned down offers for
foreign intervention in the Maluku conflict.

Thirteen members of the European Parliament urged Indonesia to
invite UN special rapporteurs to investigate torture cases in the
two restive provinces.