Wiranto extends term of special team in Maluku

JAKARTA (JP): Armed Forces (ABRI) Commander Gen. Wiranto on Tuesday extended indefinitely the tour of duty of the special military task force sent to end months of religious clashes in Maluku.

Maj. Gen. Suadi Marasabessy, who leads the team of 19 Maluku- born officers, said after meeting Wiranto here on Tuesday the extension was in response to requests by the provincial legislature and Maluku Governor Saleh Latuconsina.

Suaidi, who also is the chief of the Wirabuana Regional Military Command overseeing the Sulawesi islands, confirmed Wiranto had not specified when the mission would end.

Antara reported that Wiranto also reduced the number of team members, though there were no details as to how many members would be dropped from the task force.

Wiranto sent the team to Maluku on March 7 only days after he fired former Maluku Police chief Col. Karyono.

A brigade of reinforcement troops also were deployed to Maluku in early March and another battalion of riot troops is being sent to the province to quell renewed clashes in a number of areas in the remote islands

Antara said last week 26 villages were destroyed and 112 people killed in clashes on three islands in Southeast Maluku in the past two weeks.

In addition, at least 164 people were injured in the violence, 783 houses were either burned or damaged and 25,000 people have fled to 12 makeshift refugee centers.

In total, more than 300 people have been killed in the violence between Muslims and Christians which erupted in Maluku in mid-January.

Antara reported that earlier on Tuesday Wiranto also met with the chief of the Udayana Regional Military Command overseeing East Timor, Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri, East Timor Military Commander Col. Tono Suratman and head of the ABRI Intelligence Agency Maj. Gen. Tyasno Sudarto, to discuss the situation in the troubled territory.

Meanwhile, Southeast Sulawesi Governor La Ode Kaimoeddin said in the capital city of Kendari that the 39,000 Maluku refugees now sheltered on Buton Island had not received any form of assistance from the central government. However, six ministers have promised to provide aid, he said.

"I have met with six ministers in Jakarta. They said they were ready to extend aid to the refugees," the governor said.

He said the public works minister promised to help construct 1,000 houses for refugees on Buton, while the state minister for food promised to provide the refugees with 500 tons of rice.

The coordinating minister for people's welfare said he would send some 5,000 tons of rice and 100,000 packages of instant noodles while the forestry minister said he would provide the material for the construction of 1,500 houses, Kaimoeddin said.

The transmigration minister, meanwhile, promised to aid some 500 refugee families join the government's resettlement project, while the social services minister has yet to decide what kind of aid to provide, the governor said.

This aid will reduce the provincial government's burden in accommodating the refugees, the governor said, adding his office has pledged some Rp 200 million from the provincial budget to construct 225 houses for refugees in the Kapontori and Betoambari subdistricts.

Meanwhile, AFP reported that clashes between Madurese settlers and ethnic Malays and Dayaks flared up again on Tuesday in West Kalimantan.

A military officer in the West Kalimantan town of Singkawang was quoted as saying the clashes erupted after a Madurese mob set fire to more than a dozen Malay-owned homes in the Sungairaya district hamlet of Sungaikeran on Tuesday morning.

Violent clashes pitting Madurese migrants against local Malays and indigenous Dayaks erupted in mid-January following trivial disputes between individuals in the communities.

The violence spread throughout the Sambas regency and resulted in a campaign against Madurese settlers which resulted in at least 200 deaths.

Madurese properties, including homes and farmland, also have been destroyed in the violence, which has caused some 30,000 Madurese settlers to flee their villages or be evacuated by the authorities under military guard.

In Jakarta on Tuesday, President B.J. Habibie approved the resettlement of the Madurese refugees from Sambas regency to an island near the provincial capital of Pontianak.

West Kalimantan Governor Aspar Aswin said the resettlement was the only choice for the Madurese if they wanted to stay in Kalimantan because it was impossible for them, at least for the time being, to return to their homes in Sambas.

"The refugees will be reminded that it is still impossible for them to return to their previous homes," Aspar said after meeting with the President. The meeting also was attended by the governors of South, Central and East Kalimantan.

Aspar said he forgot the name of the island the refugees were to be sent to. He only said the island was able to accommodate at least 7,000 families. Each family will receive 1.2 hectares of land and a house.

"Only 12.5 percent of the infrastructure has been completed, but the work will not be too difficult," Aspar said.

There are two islands located near Pontianak, Teluk Pakedai and Laut. (byg/prb/swe)