Muslims plan to thwart rebel groups's celebration

Muslims plan to thwart rebel groups's celebration

Aziz Tunny, The Jakarta Post, Ambon, Maluku

The Muslim community in the Maluku capital of Ambon have vowed to
foil the planned anniversary celebration of the South Maluku
Republic (RMS) next week.

The Islam Defenders Front of Maluku (FPIM) has began pasting
green leaflets on buildings in a predominantly-Muslim housing
complex in Ambon, warning the Muslim community of the separatist
movement.

The leaflets, signed by FPIM chairman and secretary Husni
Putuhena and Ma'mun Pelu respectively, also call for jihad
against any secessionist group and appeal to the Maluku people to
help the Indonesian Military and the National Police maintain
national integrity.

FPIM was responding to a plan by the Maluku Sovereignty Front
(FKM) to celebrate the 54th anniversary of its affiliated group
RMS on April 25,

FKM secretary-general Moses Tuanakota has said some 2,500
supporters of the organization would observe the anniversary by
hoisting the RMS flag. Moses also called on the people to ignore
the government ban on the anniversary celebration, saying the
South Maluku Republic was legitimate as it had been registered
with the United Nations.

RMS initiated an armed rebellion over disappointment with
Jakarta in the 1950s, but was crushed by government troops.

The government and military have warned FKM supporters against
celebrating the RMS anniversary.

FKM chairman Alex Manuputty was sentenced to three years in
prison in January for plotting a rebellion in the Maluku Islands
by inciting his supporters to raise RMS flags. He has been
detained at the National Police since March 17 pending his
appeal.

Separately, some 350 junior and senior high school students
rallied on Saturday against the separatist movement in the
province.

Students from 10 schools and activists of several Muslim
organizations joined the peaceful demonstration. The participants
claimed their move was supported by the Maluku chapter of the
Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI).

Ahmad Ilham Sipahutar, who coordinated the rally, told The
Jakarta Post that the demonstrators asked the acting governor of
Maluku, who is concurrently the civil emergency administrator,
Sinyo Harri Sarundayang, Pattimura military commander Maj. Gen.
Agustadi and Maluku Police chief Brig. Gen. Bambang Sutrisno to
take tough actions against RMS activists.

The separatist issue has resurfaced since the government
brokered peace talks in February last year between Muslims and
Christians to end three years of sectarian conflict in the
islands. The bloodshed left some 6,000 people killed and hundreds
of thousands of others displaced.

Masterminds of the sectarian riots remain at large and the
government has not lifted the three-year-old civil emergency
status in Maluku.

Meanwhile, Sarundayang said on Saturday the Maluku
administration had called on the central government to pay
special attention to the province's efforts to recover after a
peace deal was signed to end communal clashes last year.

Sarundayang said that the government had responded to the
request positively, considering the damage in economic and
sociocultural fields inflicted by the conflict.

"The government is likely to issue a presidential decree on
Maluku in the near future that will enable the province to
develop both infrastructure and peace," he said.

He said Maluku deserved special treatment as it had
experienced serious conflicts like Aceh and Papua.