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Christian separatist leader goes on trial
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The
Straits Times
August 20, 2002
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Alleged Rebellion Plot In Malukus
Christian separatist leader goes on trial
JAKARTA - A Christian separatist leader went on trial yesterday for allegedly plotting
a rebellion in Indonesia's religiously divided Maluku islands.
Alex Manuputty's trial is being seen as an effort by the authorities in Jakarta to hold
Christian and Muslim extremists accountable for sectarian clashes that have
devastated the province and claimed at least 6,000 lives since 1999.
His trial comes four days after a court began hearing the case against
Jafaar Umar
Thalib, the leader of the Laskar Jihad, a Muslim militia charged with stoking violence
in the Malukus.
Manuputty, 55, and co-defendant Samuel 'Sammy' Waileruny, 45, face maximum
sentences of life imprisonment.
Police deployed about 100 officers, some armed with tear gas launchers and rifles,
around the North Jakarta District Court but there were no violent incidents.
Chief prosecutor Herman Kudubun told the court that both men had carried out 'an act
of subversion with the intention of dividing the unitary state of the Republic of
Indonesia'.
He said they were charged with subversion for setting up an illegal organisation and
raising the banned flag of the Republic of South Maluku (RMS).
People loyal to Dutch colonial rule declared the RMS in 1950 and staged a revolt
against newly independent Indonesia.
The rebellion was suppressed but RMS activists, mainly in the Netherlands, launched
a failed campaign for international recognition.
The bearded Manuputty, who displayed a victory sign to dozen of supporters as his
trial began, said he understood the charge and asked for permission to present his
defence.
Chief judge I Wayan Padang Pujana denied his appeal and ordered him to prepare his
defence speech in the course of the trial.
Manuputty told reporters after the hearing that his organisation was 'legal in every part
of the world'.
The case was adjourned until Aug 26 and he remains in custody, unlike Jafaar.
RMS wants Jakarta to allow a referendum on self-determination akin to a
UN-supervised plebiscite held in East Timor in 1999. It insists that the Malukus, 2,600
km east of Jakarta, should not be part of Indonesia.
Eighty per cent of Indonesia's 210 million people are Muslims, but South Maluku's two
million inhabitants are divided evenly between the two religious groups. --AP, AFP
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Subversion charge
- Alex Manuputty (above), 55, and another man, Samuel ''Sammy'' Waileruny, 45, are
charged with subversion for setting up an illegal organisation and raising the banned
flag of the Republic of South Maluku (RMS).
- Manuputty says his organisation is ''legal in every part of the world''.
- The case has been adjourned until Aug 26 and he remains in custody.
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