JP/4/MAMASA
Fresh violence erupts in Mamasa, one killed
Andi Hajramurni and Yuli Tri Suwarni The Jakarta Post/Makassar/Bandung
After two days of relative calm, violence broke out again in Aralle district, Mamasa regency, killing one man and injuring another.
The incident occurred at 10 a.m when some 300 Christians supporting the split of Polewali Mamasa regency into two regencies attacked those who opposed the split in the mountainous Aralleana subdistrict, Aralle district, Mamasa regency, West Sulawesi province.
The attack was an apparent retaliation after scores of Christian houses and a church was burned down at dawn on Saturday in Aralle district.
Two residents opposing the split, Suharman and Usman, sustained severe stab wounds, according to chief of South Sulawesi Police Insp. Gen. Saleh Saaf, who also oversees the newly established West Sulawesi province. Suharman died later at a local hospital.
The death of Suharman brought the total victims in the spate of violence that began on Saturday to three.
Saleh said that police personnel were immediately dispatched to Aralle, some 400 kilometers from the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar, to defuse the situation.
Upon arriving in the scene, hundreds of personnel with the elite police unit the Mobile Brigade quickly dispersed the attackers. Outnumbered and ill-equipped, the attackers fled to the jungle.
In order to prevent further fatalities, the police are focusing on guarding several housing complexes whose residents oppose the split of Polewali Mamasa into two regencies: Polewali Mamasa and Mamasa regencies, said Saleh.
The two-star general explained that the police were also tracking down 12 people suspected of being responsible for the renewed conflict in Mamasa regency.
Currently, almost 400 soldiers and police personnel are stationed in Aralle district to keep the security situation in check in the area.
The fresh violence on Monday was the third after a law was passed two years ago, which split Polewali Mamasa into two regencies. The split drew strong protests from the predominantly Muslim districts of Aralle, Tabulahan and Mambi, who feared that they would be a minority in the new predominantly Christian regency of Mamasa. Besides the issue of religion, the residents in the three districts also objected to the split on the grounds that the three districts were much closer to Polewali Mamasa regency. They complained that it would be efficient in term of bureaucracy and the economy if the three districts remained under the territory of Polewali Mamasa regency. But, the protest fell on deaf ears after the central government threw its weight behind the passing of the law that split Polewali Mamasa into two.
After prolonged protests, violence broke out in September last year, killing three. Violence broke out again on Saturday, killing two.