Probing of Maluku snipers urgent: ICG
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The immediate identification and prosecution of the snipers who caused terror in Ambon last month is crucial if further conflict is to be prevented, a noted research center said.
"Even if the police arrest every member of the FKM (Maluku Sovereignty Front) ... the question of who was responsible for the killings will remain unanswered," said a new report issued by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group on Monday said.
"It is the snipers, more than a short-sighted police force or a small group of rowdy but unarmed separatists, who have mostly undermined peace in Ambon," the report said.
On April 25 the FKM held a much publicized annual flag-raising event to mark the anniversary of the founding of the Republic of South Maluku (RMS), which it is officially claimed led to renewed violence, the deaths of 39 people and the torching of buildings at a time when residents were still trying to get over the communal conflict that lasted from 1999 to 2002, in which thousands were killed, and for which few have been brought to justice.
The ICG noted the absence of official autopsies on the victims of the violence, which lasted for about a week. Many of the victims were shot in the neck, eyes or chest, revealing high levels of marksmanship, especially in light of the testimony by witnesses that the fatal shots were fired from afar.
The ICG, which in Indonesia is headed by former rights activist Sidney Jones, argued that the facts so far do not support theories blaming the FKM, Christian or Islamic radicals, or parties supporting particular presidential candidates, including those with military backgrounds, who might be seeking to benefit from renewed turmoil ahead of the July 5 presidential poll.
The report pointed instead to "bad decisions", such as the transfer on April 8 of the experienced Lt. Col. Yudi Zanibar, who headed the city's district military command, and has been promoted to a new posting in Ternate, North Maluku.
This was one sign that the authorities did not perceive the FKM as a serious security threat, the ICG said.
Apart from a much criticized decision by the police to escort the FKM's secretary-general Moses Tuanakotta to the local police station on foot from FKM headquarters, drawing a large crowd of his supporters in the process, the ICG noted how Governor Karel Albert Ralahalu failed to exert his authority to enforce cooperation between the police and military.
Th ICG quashed hopes that Ambon had seen the last of communal violence, pointing to the "diametrically opposed versions" of what had happened. The report cites how Muslim organizations and officials blame "separatists", while Christian leaders say such a view "legitimizes violence by the side seen as defending the country's unity".