Tension again grips Ambon after group protests recent peace deal
Tension again grips Ambon after group protests recent peace deal
Oktovianus Pinontoan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Tension engulfed the Maluku capital of Ambon again on Tuesday
after the security forces fired warning shots to halt stone-
throwing during a protest by a group of Muslims opposed to the
recent peace accord.
It was the latest sign that despite significant support from
the public, the peace pact that many hoped would end three years
of vicious religious conflict in the country's eastern province
is facing a rocky road to complete acceptance.
Earlier on Saturday, at least five people were injured and
four motorcycles set ablaze in violence that was apparently aimed
at challenging the quest for peace.
No casualties were reported after the minor violence on
Tuesday, but the fighting and warning shots caused panic among
local residents who fled the scene of the incident.
Hundreds of Muslims, mostly women, marched to the Maluku
governor's office in protest against last month's peace
agreement, which was designed to end three years of religious
fighting.
They also protested the government's plan to outlaw a local
radio station operated by the notorious Laskar Jihad militant
group for allegedly provoking violence aimed at disrupting the
peace pact.
Tuesday's violence started at 11:30 a.m. when stones were
hurled from an unknown location at the protesters who then began
to flee the governor's office, where a group of Christians had
gathered to watch the demonstration.
The clash then worsened with the protesters and the Christians
throwing stones at each other. Each of the two groups claimed
their rivals were the first to spark off the attack.
Police later intervened in the clash and fired warning shots
in the air after the stone-throwing began to endanger the Ambon
mayor's office located on Jl. Hairun and the number of violent
demonstrators had begun to swell.
The violence forced panicked civil servants from the city
administration to flee their offices and return home.
During the Muslim rally, the protesters urged the civil
emergency authority not to ban the Voice of Maluku Muslim
Struggle (SPMM) radio station based in Ambon.
They demanded a meeting with Maluku Governor Saleh
Latuconsina, who was not available as he had been in Jakarta
since Monday.
Saleh, who also serves as the chief of the civil emergency
authority, has threatened to revoke the licenses of the Laskar
Jihad radio station and other media that he accused of having
incited renewed fighting in Ambon and the rest of the Maluku
islands following the peace accord.
The protesters were received by Maluku Police chief Brig. Gen.
Sunarko who calmed them down and promised to put their grievances
to the governor, the military and the provincial prosecutor's
office.
Executives of the radio station have been summoned and told to
be wary about what they broadcast, local officials said.
However, they said the governor had not ordered the closure of
the station but that the local government was monitoring its
broadcasts.
One banner carried by the demonstrators read: "We reject the
closure of SPMM radio". Another banner read: "Hang the Muslim
Malino delegates".
Malino, a hill resort in Gowa regency in South Sulawesi, was
the venue of the government-brokered peace talks that ended on
Feb. 12 with the signing of the peace accord to end the sectarian
conflict in Maluku.
The Muslim and Christian delegates were each represented by 35
delegates.
Members from both once-warring communities have taken part in
several emotional peace rallies and convoys across Ambon in
recent days. They hugged, laughed, talked with each other and
shook hands.
Some 6,000 people have been killed and a half-a-million made
homeless in the Muslim-Christian clashes in Ambon that began on
Jan 19, 1999, after a minor quarrel that quickly spread to other
islands in Maluku and North Maluku.