Police urge government to reopen Ambon airport

Police urge government to reopen Ambon airport

JAKARTA (JP): Maluku Police chief Col. Bugis Saman urged the
Ministry of Communications on Saturday to reopen Pattimura
Airport as paralyzed air transportation had severely affected the
province.

The colonel said he guaranteed the safety of all airport
employees and that he had deployed one company of Crack Riot
Troops (PPRM) and special Air Force Troops to guard the airport.

Bugis told Antara that he also deplored the ministry's
decision on Aug. 17 to halt commercial flights to and from Ambon
for an indefinite period.

The decision followed the burning of 20 homes of employees of
state-owned Angkasa Pura, which manages the country's airports,
on Aug.14 and Aug.15.

He said the decision did not involve any consultation with
other government agencies, the military or police.

"I can understand that the employees are still traumatized by
clashes around Pattimura Airport, but the termination of
commercial flights should have been coordinated with local
authorities, the military and police, who actually safeguarded
all the facilities," Bugis said.

One day after the violence on Aug. 13, Minister of
Communications Giri Suseno Hadihardjono sent a letter to Minister
of Defense and Security/Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto
informing him that airlines and airport employees would be in
danger unless the military could ensure their safety.

PT Angkasa Pura president Wulang Kupiyotomo instructed
Pattimura Airport to hand over operational command starting from
Aug.17 to Pattimura Air Base Commander Lt. Col. Iskandar.

A Hercules military plane then evacuated dozens of employees
to Jakarta. The staff of state-owned Merpati Nusantara Airlines
and privately owned Mandala Airlines were also evacuated from the
city and service was temporarily halted to Ambon. Since then only
military and chartered flights have operated the route to and
from Ambon.

Bugis acknowledged that despite a military and police security
guarantee, the number of passengers dropped sharply because of
violence-prone areas along land routes to and from the airport.

"The city's condition is still fragile and most people prefer
to use sea transportation," the colonel noted.

Separately, a staff member at a humanitarian post of the
Justice Party (PK) in Ambon, Suhsi Majid, said about 1,200
refugees from Laala village were stranded for nearly two weeks in
the nearby village of Luhu in West Seram regency.

The Muslim refugees left their village following a clash
between Muslims and Christians on Aug.17. Suhsi said his post
could not do much to send food or medicine to the refugees due to
poor transportation facilities.

"We can only send some medicine there," the social worker told
The Jakarta Post from Ambon.

Suhsi said although Ambon was still tense on Saturday,
students went to school and some shops opened. City buses,
however, still operated within demarcation lines drawn to
differentiate the predominant Muslim and Christian areas.

People from nearby areas like Salahutu district could not
enter the city because warring parties still patrolled the
streets, Suhsi said.

Rector Azyumardi Azra of the Syarif Hidayatullah State
Institute of Islamic Studies told The Jakarta Post recently that
calls for a jihad (holy war) would continue to become inevitable
as long as a settlement to the problem was not in sight.

At least five were killed in clashes with security personnel
as Muslim crowds met a call for a holy war on Thursday.

However, hopes for a settlement, Azyumardi said, could only be
expected "after a new government is formed".

Beliefs raised from Christian and Muslim conspiracy theories
regarding continued unrest in the province were far from the
truth, Azyumardi said.

"The conflict in Ambon was initially one of space," he said,
as the predominant Christian community was increasingly edged out
by immigrant Muslims.

Disputes escalated to widespread warring between Christians
and Muslims. Azyumardi said this was worsened by a total distrust
of security personnel, who had their hands full with problems
elsewhere while they faced an institutional crisis.

The result was "a public ritual of violence," he added, with
an abundance of examples across the country and not only in
Maluku. (prb/anr)