Govt urged to review Maluku situation

Oktavianus Pinontoan, The Jakarta Post, Ambon

Ambon Mayor Jopie Papilaja has asked the central government to review the state of civil emergency that has been in place there for two years, saying the emergency status had failed to remedy the situation.

However, Maluku Governor Saleh Latuconsina signaled that he would not recommend the central government cancel the emergency status for the time being.

Jopie said the state of civil emergency should be annulled because it was ineffective in calming the situation and restoring security.

"I see the state of civil emergency as being ineffective because it focuses on institutions and not on the conflict itself, so its results do not match the reality in the field," he said on Saturday.

He said the state of emergency administrators had passed numerous policies to end the conflict, but the reality on the streets was that the human tragedy had not ended.

"All of the policies have not been fully implemented because they failed to win the support of all the high-ranking officials in the province," he said.

Jopie said now was the time for the central government to evaluate the state of emergency, with the situation in Ambon gradually returning to normal.

Governor Saleh Latuconsina, however, said he would not recommend a lifting of the state of emergency.

The governor, with other officials, regularly evaluates the security situation in the province.

"I have been given the authority to carry out my tasks as governor and simultaneously as head of the state of civil emergency, although my term ended on Nov. 11," he said, adding that his term had been extended by a month because of the increasing tension in the area.

Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno, who visited Ambon on Nov. 10, extended Latuconsina's term of office until Dec. 11. Before this date, the minister is expected to appoint a caretaker whose main task will be to prepare a gubernatorial election.

The election has been delayed by a string of violent attacks and bombings in the province over the past three months.

Latuconsina said earlier that it was difficult to end the conflict because it involved all of society, including the local police and military.

"It was impossible to end the conflict by deploying battalions of military personnel because it was impossible to enforce the law since the security authorities were divided," he said, recalling the past situation in the province.

He said that long before Alex Manuputty, chairman of the South Maluku Republic separatist movement, was arrested, he had asked the police to apprehend Lasjkar Jihad commander Djafar Umar Thalib, but they declined to do so.

As part of the Malino peace agreement, an independent team led by I Wayan Karya, a staff member at the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, is investigating all the acts of violence in the province since the conflict erupted on Jan 19, 1999.