Maluku remains calm following RMS anniversary
Maluku remains calm following RMS anniversary
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The situation in Maluku is calm following the separatist South
Maluku Republic (RMS)'s 53rd anniversary on Friday, which saw the
arrest of more than 300 supporters of the outlawed group.
It was business as usual on Saturday in traditional markets
and shopping centers, including those in Ambon, the provincial
capital, and Central Maluku, a stronghold of the RMS. Students
attended classes as normal, though troops and police officers
were deployed in strategic areas of Ambon.
Three more RMS flags were seized on Saturday by security
authorities in the villages of Karang Panjang, Nania and Halong
Baru in Ambon municipality. The flags had been hung on trees by
RMS supporters.
Security authorities arrested about 300 people on Friday,
mostly from Aboru in Central Maluku, for raising RMS flags and
holding gatherings to mark the RMS' anniversary.
Those arrested will be given the opportunity to renounce their
support for the RMS. Those who refuse to do so could face charges
of subversion and holding illegal meetings.
Police in Ambon are having difficulty finding room for the 300
detainees.
Ambon Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Teguh Budi Prasojo said the
detention block at the police station was unable to accommodate
the nearly 250 detainees from Central Maluku.
"Some of the detainees will be put in the detention house at
the local military base because the police only have four
detention cells," he said.
Maluku Governor Sinyo Harry Sarundajang said his
administration would investigate the detainees to determine who
among them were true separatists.
"It is possible that some of the detainees are not actually
RMS supporters, but are only disappointed with the government for
other reasons," he said.
He said that many residents of the village of Aboru were
dissatisfied with the government for its failure to build roads
and other facilities in their village.
Sarundajang promised to try and satisfy the villagers' demand
for improved infrastructure, and asked the police and the
military to help develop the road network in the regency.