Troops in Maluku to be gradually pulled out

AMBON, Maluku (JP): Security battalions in the Maluku islands will be pulled out gradually, going from the present 17 to four, a military officer said on Thursday.

"By February at the latest only four battalions will remain in Maluku. Based on the present situation, which is much more calm, the police will be put on the front line to uphold the law," said Pattimura Military Commander Brig. Gen. I Made Yasa.

The 17 battalions, or about 6,800 personnel in the provinces of Maluku and North Maluku are made up of a joint military-police force.

Those battalions to be withdrawn soon are the 141/Sriwijaya Infantry Battalion and the 403/West Java Infantry Battalion, as well as 733/BS Ambon Battalion, which will be redeployed to Atambua in East Nusa Tenggara.

The Joint Intelligence Unit (SGI) -- which consist of special elite forces of Kopassus (army), Marine (Navy), Paskhas (Air Force) and Police --- however, will remain operational.

General Yasa, however, asserted that the troops' withdrawal had nothing to do with a lack of logistics or operational funds.

There has been a massive deployment of military and police personnel in Maluku since sectarian violence first broke out there on Jan. 19, 1999.

"We are complying with TNI Headquarters' decision, as we are also concerned with other problems that also need immediate handling in Aceh, Atambua and Irian Jaya," he noted.

The remaining military and police personnel will be stationed in areas of Maluku and North Maluku that are prone to conflict, he said.

They also will protect local figures who often are intimidated by "parties who do not want to see peace in the two provinces", Yasa said.

Two years of communal clashes in the Malukus have claimed at least 5,000 lives and forced thousands of others to flee their homes.

In Jakarta, the coordinator of Maluku's Peaceful Encounter reconciliation team, Ichsan Malik, said a gathering of Muslims and Christians in Maluku would be held in the capital Ambon in April of this year.

"The meeting will be the culmination of a road show that previously traveled to cities such as Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Makassar," Ichsan, who is also a psychology lecturer in the postgraduate program at the University of Indonesia, said on the sidelines of a seminar held by the Indonesian Muslim Association on Thursday.

"It's quite difficult to bring peace because the instinct for war is strong among both camps," Ichsan added. (49/edt)