Security upped in Donggala after clash
Irvan NR, The Jakarta Post, Palu, Central Sulawesi
Police tightened security in Donggala regency on Friday following a bloody sectarian clash between residents of Maranatha and Sidondo subdistricts days earlier.
At least 50 officers from the Donggala Police and the South Sulawesi Police conducted security checks on the streets in the two religiously divided subdistricts, some 30 kilometers from Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi. Maranatha subdistrict is mainly populated by Christians, while Sidondo is predominately Muslim. Both are in Sigi Biromaru district.
Other police officers carried out door-to-door searches looking for homemade bombs, firearms or sharp weapons.
Several Molotov cocktails, three homemade rifles and several machetes and knives were confiscated from local residents in the afternoon.
"The tight security measures are aimed at preventing provocateurs from descending again on the two subdistricts to incite further unrest," said Donggala Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Sismantoro.
One person was killed, four others were injured and at least three houses were burned down in Wednesday's clash.
A land dispute is believed to have been the cause of the clash in the two subdistricts, located 260 kilometers from Poso regency, where 2,000 people were killed during two years of sectarian clashes that lasted until 2002. Sporadic attacks by unknown assailants still occur in Poso despite a peace accord being signed in February 2002.
Others said the clash was due to revenge dating back to fighting between Maranatha residents and rivals from Kotapulu, another mainly Muslim subdistrict, in 2002, in which two houses were set alight.
The situation was still tense on Friday in Maranatha and Sidondo, as people in both subdistricts started to form small groups of between 10 to 15 people to maintain security. Some gathered in front of their houses while others guarded places of worship and subdistrict halls.
Some women and children have taken refuge in safer places in case further fighting breaks out.
The dead victim of the clash, Samuel Malasingi, was buried on Friday. Top officials in Central Sulawesi province attended a service for him in Rarantekala Church in Donggala.
They were Donggala Achmad deputy regent Abdul Rauf, Adj. Sr. Comr. Sismantoro and Central Sulawesi Governor Aminuddin Ponulele.
Central Sulawesi provincial administration spokesman Baharuddin Maragau has called on people to practice restraint after the clash.
"The dispute over land ownership is being discussed at the Donggala provincial council and by the Central Sulawesi government, and hopefully, an outcome will be declared soon," he said without going into detail.