Maluku refugees continue to live in uncertainty

Muhammad Azis Tunny, The Jakarta Post/Ambon

This is the second time that Jamaria Makattita, 79, a widow with four children, has had to take refuge when her home in Waringin village was burned down in the violence in Ambon, Maluku.

The first time she had to take refuge was in January 1999, when the sectarian fighting in Maluku first erupted. In the first two weeks of the violence, three of her children and four of her grandchildren sought refuge at the Al-Falah Mosque in the Waihaong area, later moving into a building at the nearby People's Amusement Park.

In the middle of July last year, Jamaria and her family returned to their village after the government rebuilt their house.

She set up a small kiosk selling sugar, tea, coffee, cigarettes and an assortment of candies and snacks, hoping to earn enough money so she would not be a financial burden on her eldest child, Sapia Makattita.

However, Jamaria was again forced to flee her house when renewed violence broke out on April 25, 2004. The next day, her house was among those in the village that were burned down.

"I had to take refuge because my house was no longer safe to occupy. So my family and I returned to a refugee camp at the amusement park," she said.

Besides all the furniture in the house, Jamaria also lost the merchandise that had been a source of livelihood for her and her grandchildren.

"When I saw my house, it felt like my heart had been broken into pieces," she said.

To make ends meet at the refugee camp, Jamaria opened a small kiosk there. Sapia also set up a small kiosk near the amusement park to earn money while her husband Arman, 41, tried to find a job.

Sapia had to wash people's clothes to raise the start-up capital for the kiosk, as well as to help support her mother.

"I saved up Rp 100,000 to buy the merchandise for my kiosk. I have been running the kiosk for a month now," Sapia said.

Sapia and her mother both said they had received no assistance from the government.

Conditions at the refugee camp are difficult. Jamaria shares a three-meter by four-meter shelter with two of her children, one son-in-law and two grandchildren. She only hopes the government will act to help the refugees.

Waringin village is located along the border separating the Muslim and Christian enclaves in Ambon city. Despite being unsafe, Jamaria hopes to return to her home.

"It is better to live in our own house than in a refugee camp. If the government asks us to go home, we will do so only if they have rebuilt our house," she said.

Another resident of the refugee camp is Ani Rumbia, 45, who fled her home in Wainitu subdistrict in January 1999 along with 180 other families.

The widow, who has two children, said she had received no assistance from the government -- be it money or building materials.

Even the money the Maluku Social Affairs Office promised to pay widows on May 18 has failed to materialize.

Ani washes people's clothes to support her two children. "I do not know when the government will rebuild my house," she said.

Every inch of land inside the amusement park is occupied by government-built barracks and shacks the refugees put up themselves.

At least 279 families took refuge at the park in Waihaong from 1999 to 2000, and most of them received building materials and money to return home.

But not all of the assistance was properly used. Some refugees chose not to live in the houses built for them by the government in Waringin and Talake villages, instead leasing them out or leaving them vacant.

"Before the April 25 violence, some of the refugees had already acquired government aid. But they did not stay in their newly built houses, instead renting them out to others," said Siti, a refugee coordinator in Waringin who had to return to the refugee camp when her house was burned down.

According to data from the Maluku Social Affairs Office, about 70,051 families, or 331,979 refugees, fled the sectarian conflict in 1999. At least 33,673 families, or 174,570 refugees, have been resettled, while the remaining 36,378 families, or 164,189 people, remain scattered across Maluku province.

The government has provided hundreds of billions of rupiah to repatriate and relocate the refugees. In 2003 alone, over Rp 176 billion was allotted from the state budget for this purpose, on top of Rp 18 billion in additional funds.

But thousands of refugees still have not received assistance. There have been recent reports of local officials accused of misappropriating assistance funds for the refugees.