Standard army and police weapons used in Ambon: NGO
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Ambon
A grassroots reconciliation movement offered on Thursday more facts that could shed light on the true identity of the snipers blamed for fueling fresh violence in Ambon, Maluku, which has so far killed 38 people.
Non-governmental organization, the Peace Building Institute, said the snipers, who are continuing to sow fear among Ambon residents, were using Styer SSG-69 rifles, which are widely used by sniper units of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police sharpshooters.
"The Styer SSG-69, which can hit a target up to one kilometer away with deadly accuracy, is common in both the military and police," director of the institute, Ichsan Malik, said in a discussion with The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
He refrained, however, from actually pointing the fingers at the TNI or police, saying that further investigation would be needed to reveal the true identity of the snipers.
TNI spokesman Maj. Gen. Syafrie Syamsuddin said earlier that the mystery snipers were using weapons stolen from a police armory during an infamous raid in Ambon in 2000.
Ichsan, a political scientist with the University of Indonesia, said the weapons stolen from the warehouse had a range of up to 200 meters only, while the ones being used by snipers were accurate up to one kilometer away.
He also said that the snipers were skilled marksmen, as shown by the fact that victims were shot in the forehead, heart or between the eyes.
Fellow activist Abubakar Riry said the weapons being used by the snipers were similar to those used by antisniper units formed by the former Pattimura Military commander, Brig. Gen. Max Tamaela, in 2000. "What happened to these units after a new military commander was installed to replace Tamaela is still not clear," said Abubakar, the former leader of a militia group defending a Muslim neighborhood in Ambon.
Both Ichsan and Abubakar agreed that what sparked the renewed violence in Ambon was not the rally by the separatist Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM) to commemorate the 54th anniversary of the proclamation of the South Maluku Republic (RMS) but rather the killing of three persons by the snipers.
"After more than three years of a reconciliation campaign we call BakuBae we believe that both Muslims and Christians no longer are willing to get easily involved in conflicts," Ichsan said, adding that officials in Jakarta were tending to overstate the scale of the conflict.
Ambon, the site of bloody religious strife that killed over 5,000 people between 1999 and 2001, was plunged into violence again on April 25. At least 38 people have been killed since then.
"The renewed conflict in Ambon is not as atrocious as officials in Jakarta keep saying," Ichsan said.
Maluku police said on Thursday that gunmen firing from a speedboat shot dead a Christian adult and a baby, and wounded three others in a dawn attack off Buru Island.
Provincial police spokesman Hendro Prasetyo said an 11-month- old baby and a 38-year-old Christian man, who was shot six times in the chest, died in the attack which occurred at about 6 a.m. Wednesday.
The dead man and baby, and the three wounded people, as well as another person who is missing, were going about their normal business in Wamkana village when eight attackers opened fire from the speedboat, which was passing between 200 meters and 300 meters offshore, Prasetyo said as reported by Agence France- Presse.
Ambon town was relatively calm on Thursday but for many traumatized residents it was far from business as usual in many parts of the city.
The police arrested more suspected separatists on Thursday, including FKM secretary-general Moses Tuanakotta.
Earlier, the police had already detained FKM chairman Alexander Manuputty's wife Olly Manuputty and daughter Christin Manuputty.
Together with the eight other suspects, they were flown to Jakarta on Thursday to undergo further questioning at National Police Headquarters.
In Jakarta, police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said the police had requested the handover of Manuputty by the United States to enable further questioning of the alleged separatist leader.