Maluku residents say no to returnees
M. Azis Tunny, The Jakarta Post, Ambon
Not all Maluku residents have responded positively to the government's efforts to restore infrastructure and security in the formerly riot-torn province.
Residents of Lisabata subdistrict in West Seram regency, for example, recently opposed a government plan to allow hundreds of refugees from three neighboring subdistricts to return to their homes.
The residents told a group of visiting Maluku administration officials on Friday that they were not ready to live side by side with residents of the three neighboring subdistricts -- Nuniali, Wokolo and Patahue.
Jaida Kaisuku, a Lisabata resident, said that he did not trust residents in the three neighboring Christian subdistricts, accusing them of having attacked Lisabata during sectarian clashes in Maluku, back in 1999. Lisabata is a Muslim subdistrict.
Prior to the sectarian conflict, some "irresponsible" people from the three subdistricts had prevented traders from Lisabata selling cloves in Taniwel, sparking minor clashes, said Umri Hatumena, another resident.
Taniwel is the capital of Taniwel district, where the four subdistricts are located.
"We want to live in peace, but it is the residents in those three subdistricts that caused conflicts in our area," said Umri.
Also before the conflict, residents of the three neighboring subdistricts had damaged clove trees belonging to Lisabata residents, causing a poor harvest, said another resident Marawiah, 68.
"If the government pushes ahead with its plan, we cannot be held responsible if other clashes occur in the future," said Jaida, supported by dozens of Lisabata residents attending a meeting with Maluku provincial administration officials in Lisabata subdistrict hall.
There are 34 subdistricts in Taniwel district, three of them are Muslim subdistricts. Residents in Lisabata clashed with the neighboring residents of Nuniali, Woloko and Patahue in October 2000. The Lisabata residents proved to be the stronger group, forcing their rivals to take refuge in safer places.
Meanwhile, responding to the Lisabata resident's rejection, Maluku Deputy Governor Muhammad Abdullah Latuconsina said that the government would proceed with its plan.
"We have laws and live under the Unitary State of Indonesia. The government will protect the rights of every citizen," said Latuconsina, a Muslim.
The government ruled that all problems related to refugees had to be settled before 2005, Latuconsina added.
To appease Lisbata residents, Latuconsina said the administration would pay attention to development in Lisabata subdistrict, including the construction of a 75-kilometer highway from Piru, the capital of West Seram regency to Taniwel and Lisabata subdistrict.
He asked Lisabata residents to bury the hatchet and forget past bitter experience, for a better future.
Responding to the statement, Ma'ruf Pattiiha, also a Lisabata resident, said that the government should not push for its target to be accomplished this year. He said that the dispute among residents should be settled first, before the repatriation of the refugees.
The sectarian conflict began in Ambon in 1999 and spread rapidly to other areas of Maluku, including West Seram regency. Thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands of others took refuge after the clashes, which largely subsided in 2002.