S. Maluku's leader dies

S. Maluku's leader dies

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AFP): Johan Manusama, former president
of the Free Republic of South Maluku, has died in a Rotterdam
hospital, his family said Friday. He was 85.

Manusama, whose self-declared government claimed independence
for the southern part of Indonesia's Maluku islands, was admitted
to hospital on Wednesday after falling seriously ill, the
relatives said.

An engineer by training, he was president from 1966 to 1993 of
the Free Republic of South Maluku, which was proclaimed in 1950,
a few months after Indonesia won independence from Dutch colonial
rule.

The South Maluku movement remains active. Last April, its
younger members in the Netherlands rioted near the Indonesian
embassy in The Hague, resulting in damages to several houses and
vehicles.

Their cause made world headlines in 1975 and 1977 when South
Maluku's extremists took hostages on Dutch passenger trains. In
both instances, Manusama -- who opposed violence -- acted as a
mediator.