Tension down; Ambon still fears snipers

Tension down; Ambon still fears snipers

Azis Tunny and Slamet Susanto, Ambon/Yogyakarta

A high-powered government team arrived in Ambon on Wednesday, as
people from the provincial capital of Maluku again became
segregated along religious lines.

The visiting government team -- coordinating minister for
political and security affairs ad interim Hari Sabarno,
Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto and
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar -- met dozens of local
leaders during the one-day visit, to seek an end to renewed
violence that has caused the death of more than 30 people since
Sunday.

After the meeting, Hari promised that the government would
continue its policy of quelling the separatist movement in the
spice islands. The South Maluku Republic (RMS) movement has been
blamed for inciting unrest by holding a ceremony and rally to
mark its 54th anniversary on Sunday, but residents and religious
leaders have also criticized the police for failing effectively
to prevent the annual commemoration.

The government team stayed for only a few hours at the airport
and flew back again to Jakarta, raising concern that it might not
have obtained first-hand information on what was really going on
in the coastal town.

Police had arrested 32 members of the separatist Maluku
Sovereignty Front (FKM) as of Wednesday, but they have yet to
explain why they allowed the rally to occur. The sight of RMS
supporters guarded by police angered bystanders, which led to
stone-throwing and arson before victims fell, many of them with
gunshot wounds.

However, data from sources compiled by the Jakarta-based
Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) Crisis Center is that the
rally was not planned, but that a few hundred RMS supporters, who
carried flags, followed police who were escorting FKM secretary-
general Moses Tuanakotta to the police station, thereby creating
the impression of a rally.

By Wednesday the violence had subsided but many were still
afraid to venture out for fear of snipers, who had even targeted
two police officers on Monday. Police say they are investigating
the information on the existence of unidentified snipers.

While Muslims and Christians rubbed shoulders in public again
after 2002, since Sunday the divisions became clear again. The
website of Maluku Media Center, an information center in Ambon
run by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), reported on
Wednesday that markets were again segregated, similar to the
situation that followed the original bloodshed in 1999 that left
thousands dead.

Hundreds of traders in Mardika market, considered a neutral
area, have moved to other markets in their communities: Muslim
traders moved to Batumerah, while Christian traders shifted their
activities to Batu Meja market.

There was fighting of a much lesser scale in a number of
areas. A Nazareth church and a dwelling were burned down in
Karangpanjang.

Two more fatalities were reported on Wednesday, bringing the
death toll to 32. Meanwhile, 16 more people were injured,
bringing the number of people injured as of Wednesday to 202.
Police, however, listed 36 people as dead, including two of their
own officers.

Meanwhile, a Maluku provincial government spokeswoman claimed
that more than 1,000 Christians protested at police headquarters
to demand that soldiers from outside Ambon be withdrawn.

"They say witnesses saw members of the TNI (armed forces) were
involved in the torching of the Nazareth church," the spokeswoman
was quoted as saying by AFP.

Separately, in Yogyakarta, hundreds of Muslim students from
Maluku slammed the RMS for provoking the riots.

The students demanded firm action against RMS members and
demanded that Maluku Police chief Brig.Gen. Bambang Sutrisno
acknowledge responsibility for what occurred.

The government lifted the state of civil emergency in Maluku
last year, but it has yet to resolve the issue of thousands of
refugees who remain homeless and unemployed, factors that
observers have said are potential sources of trouble.