Two men linked with past conflict in Poso

Eva C. Komandjaja and Ruslan Sangaji, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta/Palu

The police said on Friday that two men arrested by the special antiterror squad in the Central Sulawesi town of Poso last week were linked to the bloody conflict there a few years back.

After questioning, the police found that Andi Ipong and Muhammad Yusuf Ilyas were involved in murder, assault and theft during the sectarian clashes between Christians and Muslims between 2000 and 2001 that left over 1,000 people dead.

"We're still investigating whether they committed these crimes out of purely criminal motives or whether they were bent on creating chaos in the area," National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Aryanto Boedihardjo said on Friday.

The antiterror squad caught Ipong and Yusuf, who Aryanto said had long been on the police's wanted list, last Thursday during an operation launched in the wake of a series of violent incidents in Poso and the provincial capital Palu over the past few months.

"We discovered what they were up to when we were investigating the shooting of a lecturer," Aryanto said, referring to Puji Sulaksono who, along with his wife Novlin Palinggi, was shot while riding a motorcycle after a church service on Nov. 19. The two were wounded.

Aryanto said Ipong and Yusuf had been charged under both the Antiterrorism Law and the Criminal Code.

"They are part of a specific group that has repeatedly attempted to create security instability in Poso," Aryanto said, but refused to comment on reports by human rights groups saying that the renewed violence in Poso was the work of a group called the "Flower Team".

Neither would Aryanto say whether either Ipong or Yusuf were involved in the beheading of three Christian schoolgirls in October.

"The police are currently hunting down seven more people, including a person with the initials BS, suspected of involvement in the case," Aryanto said. Police have so far arrested Irfan Masiro, a security guard at Poso Hospital, in connection with the triple murder.

Just a week after the beheadings, two female students were wounded in a drive-by shooting while sitting in front of a house. Both survived. Police have so far arrested four suspects over the shooting.

The government has formed a team under the leadership of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Widodo Adi Sucipto, to restore security and order in Poso.

"We hope the crime rate in Poso and the whole of Central Sulawesi will decrease following the arrest of these culprits," Aryanto said.

Separately, a Catholic figure in Poso expressed regret over President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's refusal to grant clemency to three men convicted of mass killings during the sectarian clashes a few years ago.

Susilo's decision means Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva and Marinus Riwu face imminent execution.

"My sense of humanity has been insulted," Jimmy Tumbelaka said on Friday.

The priest said the prosecution of the three Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, migrants had been controversial from the outset.

"They came to St. Theresia's Church to protect the priests, nuns and orphans. Then an angry mob arrived who said they were hunting for killers who were hiding in our church," Jimmy said, recalling the May 23, 2000, incident, in which the Catholic church was burned down.

Jimmy said the authorities enforcers had never questioned the 16 people who Tibo identified as having roped them into the sectarian conflict.

"The Christian community believes the verdicts were unjust, while Muslim people have begun to realize that Tibo was unlikely to have masterminded the Poso conflict," Jimmy said.