Maluku top officer told to resign

YOGYAKARTA: Some 100 Maluku students in Yogyakarta staged a rally here on Monday demanding Pattimura Military Commander Brig. Gen. I Made Yasa, who oversees the riot-hit province, step down.

Calling themselves the Yogyakarta Maluku Muslim Students Association (HIPMAMMAYO), the protesters said the Indonesian Military (TNI) troops in Maluku had treated Muslims unfairly.

"22 civilians and one soldier were killed in a raid by the TNI Joint Battalion on Thursday. It is just a small example of Made Yasa's unfair policy as the military commander in Maluku," one of the protesters, Syamsuddin Swasamu, said.

The students also accused the military in Maluku of doing nothing against the separatist movement waged by people who wish to establish the South Maluku Republic.

Yogyakarta provincial legislature's deputy speaker Totok Daryanto told the protesters that councillors were in support of the students' demand for serious handling of the Maluku conflict. (23)