Group demands the release of 180 Ambonese in police custody
Group demands the release of 180 Ambonese in police custody
JAKARTA (JP): Members of the Ambonese community group Voice of
the Moluccan People Front on Tuesday called for the immediate
release of more than 180 Ambonese taken into protective police
custody during the bloody Ketapang incident.
Group spokesman William Latuheru said the young men were
evacuated by security personnel during the Nov. 22 clash between
local residents and guards of amusement centers on Jl. K.H.
Zainul Arifin in West Jakarta.
The men, who were also guards at the establishments, were
sheltered at the headquarters of the National Police's Mobile
Brigade unit in the Kelapa Dua area, south of here.
"According to the police, they were evacuated, not detained.
But why they have yet to be released?" said William, whose nephew
was among 14 people killed in the incident.
He said they should be returned to the care of their families.
"We promise to keep an eye on them and teach them to maintain
unity."
Many of the dozens of people attending the conference at the
Arafuru Maluku restaurant in Central Jakarta wore traditional
red-and-black Ambonese clothes.
When asked to comment on the men's detention, Jakarta Police
spokesman Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang said most had been released
several days ago.
"Only a few of them are still in police detention and will be
brought to court for damaging houses and stabbings," Aritonang
told The Jakarta Post later in the evening.
The officer refused to reveal the precise number to be tried
because he feared it could cause further discord.
Aritonang insisted the police had not detained the men.
"Instead, most of them asked police help for protection."
William demanded a thorough investigation into the Ketapang
incident in which five men of Ambonese descent died.
"We want the murderers of our relatives to be arrested and the
cause of the riot to be revealed. So far it's still unclear."
The group plans to lodge complaints with the Jakarta Legal Aid
Institute and National Commission on Human Rights.
Group members were upset by use of the term "Ambonese
hoodlums" by television stations and some print media to describe
the amusement center guards.
"Our relatives are not hoodlums. They work and are paid daily
as security guards of the amusement center," William said.
The incident was politically engineered by particular groups
and had nothing to do with ethnicity or religion, he added.
The Ambonese group condemned any vandalism against mosques,
churches and other religious buildings.
"We have a tradition in Maluku of being tolerant of other
religions. There are Moslems and Christians living in harmony in
Maluku," William said.
On Monday at Jakarta Police headquarters, representatives of
Ketapang residents reached an agreement with members of the
Ambonese community in Jakarta to bar against a repeat of the
incident.
The riot unfolded following a rumor, later found to be
baseless, that people of Ambonese descent had burned a local
mosque. Residents went on the rampage, burning churches and
ransacking buildings.
Material losses, particularly to churches and schools, are
believed to number in the hundreds of million rupiah. (jun)