Govt urged to form special force for Maluku

Jupriadi, The Jakarta Post, Malino

Chairmen of opposing delegations from Maluku asked the government to form a joint special security force, comprising both the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police, to ensure that the Malino peace accord is complied with in the strife-torn province.

The establishment of the special security force has been called for because the people of Maluku widely regard the security authorities to be biased.

Tonny Pariela, chairman of the Christian delegation, conceded that the sectarian conflict had continued because both the military and the police had failed to maintain their neutrality. He cited a series of exchanges of fire between the Navy and the police in Ambon between October and December, 2001.

"The conflict would not have lasted for three years if the security authorities had been neutral and enforced the law equally. The reality has shown that the security authorities have failed to maintain their neutrality and that certain groups from outside the province have taken political advantage of the partiality of the security authorities to interfere in the conflict," he said.

If the government could not form a joint security force, it should consolidate both the local military and police in Maluku to maintain their neutrality and assign only non-local security personnel to enforce the law, he said.

According to him, to realize the agreement on the establishment of a security and law enforcement commission, the government should be proactive and deploy a special security force selected from the military and the police to replace some 13,000 security personnel currently deployed in the province.

He did not agree with the proposed deployment of servicemen from the Army's elite force (Kopassus) because they did not know much about the law.

Tonny said his faction would also request the planned commission on social and economic affairs pay serious attention to local social problems and the rights of indigenous people, both in the local bureaucracy and private sector, to uphold social justice in the province.

"The conflict flared up so suddenly because indigenous people were only given a small role in the administration and the business sector, causing a wide gap between the indigenous people and immigrants," he said.

Thamrin Ely, leader of the Muslim delegation, concurred and said that members of the security and law enforcement commission should come from the military, police, the Attorney General's Office and the province's high court.

"Most importantly, they must be neutral, professional and committed to upholding the rule of law. Without such conditions, the peace accord will not be effective and will experience a similar fate to previous peace deals," he said.

Both Tonny and Tonny were of the same point of view, that the government, including the security authorities, has to take a leading role in the enforcement of the peace accord.

Asked about their comments on law violations committed by rival groups during the three-year conflict, the two were also of the same opinion that all major violations should be dealt with in accordance with the law.

"As Christians, we pardon all wrongdoings in line with the peace accord, but law violations, especially ones that have claimed human lives, should be dealt with according to legal justice," said Tonny.

Thamrin said the government should assign more prosecutors and judges to Maluku to deal with all law violations that took place during the conflict.

"The tribunal in Ambon must be revived to try servicemen and police who committed major violations during the conflict, while law violations committed by civilians during the conflict have not been processed because of the absence of prosecutors and judges," he said.

Meanwhile, in Jakarta, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla, said the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights would send more judges to the district court and the high court in the provincial capital of Ambon to try all law violations during the conflict.

"In the coming month, many more judges will be sent to Ambon and many others from other provinces will be moved to the city to solve the shortage of judges in the province," he said, after briefing President Megawati Soekarnoputri on the meeting in Malino, South Sulawesi, at the State Palace here on Wednesday.

He said the government would ask the military and the police to maintain their neutrality when enforcing the law in order to help make the peace accord effective.