Police have yet to capture Ambon riot masterminds

JAKARTA (JP): National Police Chief Lt. Gen. Roesmanhadi admitted on Friday that the police have not yet been able to apprehend the alleged masterminds or instigators of the recent communal clashes in Ambon, Maluku.

Roesmanhadi argued the unrest involved too many people and the mobs moved very fast in such an uncontrollable situation.

"The initial brawl grew too rapidly and we've dealt with a big crowd before, not just several people. If this was only a brawl involving a few people, I believe we'd have been able to identify the instigators," he told journalists on the sidelines of a belated Idul Fitri get-together at the National Police headquarters.

Clashes in Ambon which erupted on Jan. 19 claimed more than 50 lives and inflicted material losses of at least Rp 500 billion as many buildings and vehicles were vandalized and burned.

Earlier police claimed they had arrested at least 127 suspects mainly from three areas in the province: Ambon, Dobo and Saumelaki. Roesmanhadi, however, retracted the claim on Friday.

"None of those arrested know who were behind the clashes as they're just residents who happened to have been caught red- handed vandalizing buildings or assaulting others," Roesmanhadi said.

"All information will be appreciated although we'll launch our own investigation based on the principle of presumption of innocence," he added.

The police chief said the statement of the chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Abdurrahman Wahid, that former president Soeharto's loyalists may be behind the riots, could not be used as evidence because Abdurrahman failed to back it up with accurate evidence.

"Gus Dur (popular name of Abdurrahman) wants us to check his data as he only heard people say this and that, so it's not yet a established fact," Roesmanhadi said.

The coordinator of the respected Commission for Missing People and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Munir, alleged the government was the real mastermind behind the rioting and other violence throughout the country.

"The inability to unravel the Ambon case must be seen as an adequate reason to blame the government as the mastermind or protector of the provocateurs of riots, because no single suspect has been found in similar violence in Banyuwangi (in East Java), Ketapang (in West Jakarta) and Kupang (in East Nusa Tenggara)," Munir said on Friday.

Muslims and Christians involved in the clashes in Ambon remained suspicious of the military and the government's role in handling the unrest. The Muslim leaders complained that the security personnel looked the other way when Christians attacked them. But the same complaint was also voiced by the Christians.

"The handling of the riot and the legal process carried out by the security force does not show a neutral stance and makes it look as if all attacks are carried out by Christians," Protestant and Catholic leaders said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

According to the official statistics, 53.59 percent of Ambon's population are Christian and 41.01 percent Muslim. Over all in Maluku province, 59.01 percent of the population are Muslim while 35.29 percent are Christian.

Meanwhile, Trikora Military Commander Maj. Gen. Amir Sembiring, who oversees Irian Jaya and Maluku, said rescue workers had been able to find more bodies from buildings that were destroyed and burned during the unrest. He did not specify any number.

"The losses caused by the riots are estimated at Rp 500 billion, and it will take between 15 to 20 years to restore the city," Antara quoted Sembiring as saying on Friday.

Separately, the Maluku Students Forum (Formama), submitted on Friday to the National Commission on Human Rights the results of its own investigation into the violence.

The group was received by the commission members, Albert Hasibuan and Benjamin Mangkoedilaga, at the commission's headquarters.

One of the forum members, Jimmy Matitaputi, named a police major whom he described as one of the agitators sent from Jakarta.

The students then demanded the government withdraws all security personnel from Ambon.

"If the security personnel are unable to handle the situation, it would be better if they left Ambon," said Jimmy.

Albert did not rule out the possibility of Armed Forces (ABRI) personnel being involved in the unrest.

"We are going to Ambon on Saturday and we'll start to work on Sunday. We promise to check out information there," Hasibuan said. (emf/29/prb)