Three students hospitalized after Ambon police raid

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.