Three students hospitalized after Ambon police raid

M. Azis Tunny, The Jakarta Post, Ambon

Ambon police officers stormed the Pattimura University campus and attacked students there on Wednesday after a minor quarrel, leaving at least 10 students injured, three of whom had to be admitted to a local hospital after suffering serious injuries.

The attack began around 7:30 a.m, when several students calling themselves the "student regiment" decided to set up a checkpoint to search all students and passersby in front of the campus, which is located in downtown Ambon. The checkpoint was ostensibly set up to prevent anybody from bringing into the campus compound flags or banners of the independence-minded South Maluku Republic (RMS), which will commemorate its 55th anniversary on April 25.

The regiments searches initially were uneventful, until a police officer entered the university compound. Second Brig. Dominggus Maspaitella arrived on campus as he was dropping off his fiance Vivi Kakisina, a student at the school.

A member of the student regiment told him to stop, but he refused and instead quickly sped past on his motorcycle into the campus, saying he was in a hurry. After dropping off Vivi, Dominggus again had to pass by the entrance gate of the university, but he was stopped and held by the self-appointed campus cops. A quarrel ensued and the officer managed to free himself and speed away on his motorcycle. Dominggus arrived back on campus an hour later, but this time he had with him 10 fellow police officers.

The officers then began, by some accounts, running amok on the school grounds, kicking and beating several members of the student regiment and other students with the barrels or stocks of their rifles.

Deputy dean of the Law School, Janes Leatemia, attempted to calm down the angry police officers, but one of them pointed a rifle at him. "When I asked him what was going on here, one policeman pointed his gun at me and said that there was no problem here," said Janes.

Jemy Ukalele, a regular student and not a member of the group checking for RMS flags, said that he was wrongly targeted and was beaten up. He said that he was attending a laboratory session, and upon hearing the uproar outside, his curiosity led him to go check it out. "But, suddenly I was hit in my back by a policeman, who kicked me several times after I was down," said Jemy. After kicking and beating the students, the police officers hauled one member of the student regiment, Alex Rumahrupute, down to the station house for questioning.

The incident greatly upset many students and lecturers at the university. So, two hours after the beatings, an estimated 100 students and several lecturers, riding three buses, descended upon the office of the Maluku Governor to express their utter disgruntlement over the police attack, but the governor was not in his office.

A similar police raid occurred last year in Makassar, South Sulawesi, when police officers raided the Muslim University there, leaving dozens of students injured. The incident led to the firing of Insp. Gen. Jusuf Manggabarani, the chief of the South Sulawesi provincial police.