Govt to lift Maluku civil emergency

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government will lift the state of civil emergency that was imposed on Maluku three years ago because of fighting between Muslims and Christians, a minister said on Tuesday.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the state of emergency would be lifted on Friday when Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno swears in new Maluku Governor Sinyo Harry Sarundajang.

"The state of emergency in Maluku will be formally revoked on Friday," Susilo said in Jakarta.

Officials and analysts have said last month's trouble-free gubernatorial election in Maluku was evidence the province was safe and no longer in need of the emergency status.

The government placed the provinces of Maluku and North Maluku under a state of civil emergency in June 2000 after religious violence broke out in the Maluku capital of Ambon on Jan. 19, 1999.

The state of emergency in North Maluku was lifted in May of this year due to improvements in the political and security situation there.

Susilo said he hoped the lifting of the civil emergency in Maluku would not disrupt efforts to maintain security and enforce the law.

Some 6,000 people died during the three years of violence in Maluku and North Maluku, while hundreds of thousands of others were forced to flee their homes.

The bloody conflict ended after a government-brokered peace pact was signed by leaders of the two warring parties in February 2002. However, there continue to be sporadic outbreaks of violence.

More than 80 percent of the country's 212 million people are Muslim. But in some eastern regions, including the Malukus, Christians make up about half the population.