'Slap military state of emergency on Poso'

Abu Hanifah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

More support came from the House of Representatives on Tuesday for the government to impose a state of emergency to end a deadly sectarian conflict in Poso, Central Sulawesi.

Pedy Tandawuya, a House member from the Golkar Party said that the government should declare a military state of emergency because the conflict had nearly spiraled out of control.

"A prompt and powerful measure is urgent to end the conflict there and that means a military state of emergency," said Pedy, who is a Poso native.

The conflicts, which saw relative calm for several months, have flared out of control in the past three weeks due to the arrival of outside forces.

Relief workers have warned that thousands of displaced people are facing starvation as the Poso regency has been largely cut off from the outside world.

The state of emergency, whether civil or military, is expected to be imposed as soon as the visiting Coordinating Minister of Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono returns from Poso this week.

The House Commission I was the first to propose a military state of emergency during a hearing with Army Chief Marshal Widodo AS on Monday.

Pedy said that the fighting would spread to neighboring areas unless it was controlled soon. Until the government declares a state of emergency, the government must deploy more troops to Poso, he said.

Currently the security forces in Poso are overwhelmed because they are badly outnumbered by the warring Muslims and Christians.

Pedy added that the troops sent into Poso should be more professional than those previously dispatched to neighboring Maluku, where several months of a state of civilian emergency has failed to stop sectarian violence.

"This will be a good test case for the military's professionalism," he said.

Separately, Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar during a hearing with Commission II on domestic affairs said that three days ago TNI and the police had sent reinforcements to Poso.

"We dispatched 200 police special forces to join another 600 who were deployed earlier. Meanwhile, the military sent in two battalions (about 2,000 personnel)," he said.

After the hearing, Da'i rushed straight to the airport to leave for Poso to accompany Susilo who had left earlier on Tuesday.