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Maluku
remains calm following RMS anniversary
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The
Jakarta Post April
27, 2003
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Maluku remains calm following
RMS anniversary
National News - April 27, 2003
The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta
The situation in Maluku is calm
following the separatist South Maluku Republic (RMS)'s 53rd
anniversary on Friday, which saw the arrest of more than 300
supporters of the outlawed group.
It was business as usual on
Saturday in traditional markets and shopping centers, including
those in Ambon, the provincial capital, and Central Maluku, a
stronghold of the RMS. Students attended classes as normal, though
troops and police officers were deployed in strategic areas of
Ambon.
Three more RMS flags were seized on
Saturday by security authorities in the villages of Karang Panjang,
Nania and Halong Baru in Ambon municipality. The flags had been
hung on trees by RMS supporters.
Security authorities arrested about
300 people on Friday, mostly from Aboru in Central Maluku, for
raising RMS flags and holding gatherings to mark the RMS'
anniversary.
Those arrested will be given the
opportunity to renounce their support for the RMS. Those who
refuse to do so could face charges of subversion and holding
illegal meetings.
Police in Ambon are having
difficulty finding room for the 300 detainees.
Ambon Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr.
Teguh Budi Prasojo said the detention block at the police station
was unable to accommodate the nearly 250 detainees from Central
Maluku.
"Some of the detainees will be
put in the detention house at the local military base because the
police only have four detention cells," he said.
Maluku Governor Sinyo Harry
Sarundajang said his administration would investigate the
detainees to determine who among them were true separatists.
"It is possible that some of
the detainees are not actually RMS supporters, but are only
disappointed with the government for other reasons," he said.
He said that many residents of the
village of Aboru were dissatisfied with the government for its
failure to build roads and other facilities in their village.
Sarundajang promised to try and
satisfy the villagers' demand for improved infrastructure, and
asked the police and the military to help develop the road network
in the regency.
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