Inquiry team collecting data, info on Ambon conflict

Oktavianus Pinontoan, The Jakarta Post, Ambon

The National Inquiry Team (TPIN) is endeavoring to collect accurate data and information on violence in the prolonged sectarian conflict in Maluku that has claimed more than 2,000 lives and displaced more than 750,000 people, says team chairman.

"TPIN has listed all violence occurring since the conflict initially erupted on Jan. 19, 1999 and has interviewed a great number of people who were allegedly involved in the violence. We are still looking for additional information and evidence before the cases are brought to trial," TPIN chairman I Wayan Karya told The Jakarta Post in an interview here on Friday.

Karya, who was accompanied by Maj. Gen. (ret) Purnawa and Sigit, both members of TPIN, gave the interview after questioning 76-year-old Piet Suribory, former field commander of the South Maluku Republic (RMS) separatist movement in Seram.

He declined to mention the number of cases that had been listed or the people questioned. He said his team, which has been in Maluku for four months, would complete its mission in the next four months.

Karya insisted that his team's main mission in the province was to collect data on violence and law violations that occurred during the three-year conflict as required by the Malino peace agreement signed by representatives of the two conflicting factions in the South Sulawesi town in February 2002.

"Our inquiry is aimed not at making locals relive their misery of the past but to bring the cases to court as part of the conflict resolution as required by the peace deal," he said.

He said his team would also investigate violence allegedly involving members of the military and the local police.

Asked to comment on cases involving the newly disbanded Laskar Jihad, Karya said his team would also investigate violence that involved the militant group.

"We will record all our findings on Laskar Jihad in the field and we will study their cases and bring them to court. It will be up to the judges whether to try them or not," he said.

The East Jakarta District Court has suspected the trial of Ja'far Umar Thalib -- former chairman of Laskar Jihad whose militiamen have been implicated in numerous cases of violence -- for health reasons.

Ja'far has been charged with defaming President Megawati Soekarnoputri and of inciting violence during a rally in Ambon in July 2002, only a few days before the deadly attack on Soya village during which 12 Christians were killed.

Alex Manuputy, president of RMS, has been charged with sedition for raising the RMS flag to mark the separatist movement's 52 anniversary on April 25, 2002. His case will be heard at the South Jakarta District Court.

The police have also arrested a number of RMS supporters who were involved in the flag-raising ceremony, which was banned by the authorities.

Meanwhile, Piet Suribory, born in 1926 on Haruku island, denied that RMS and the Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM) were behind the prolonged conflict and claimed that they were merely scapegoats.

"As I see it, not only has a certain group in the province connived to discredit the two organizations, but so have local authorities," he said.

He said RMS did have some Muslim supporters, but the organization was a political movement that was not based on sectarian interests, while FKM was involved in the conflict because it was established in 2001, two years after the conflict erupted in 1999.