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Lawamena
Victoria
Reports
by
CRISIS
CENTRE DIOCESE OF AMBOINA
Jalan Pattimura 32 - Ambon 97124 ( Indonesia
Tel 0062 (0)911 342195 Fax 0062 (0)911 355337
e-mail [email protected]
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THE
SITUATION IN AMBON / MOLUCCAS - Report No. 321
2002-10-20
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Ambon, October 20, 2002
Your
correspondent was out of office and out of reach of internet for
more than a month. In the following rather lengthy report we will
try to catch up with events, mainly based on the Archives of
Infomaluku.net.
1. AMAHUSU INHABITANTS SHOT AT On September 21, 2002, a
group of residents of Amahusu, a Christian village South-West of
the city of Ambon, went hunting on the tiny island of Kelang to
the West of Ceram island. When returning they were unexpectedly
shot at by unknown assailants, who reportedly used automatic
weapons. In this incident two people were killed, two others were
wounded, and two were missing.
2. ARRESTS ON MOROTAI Four suspects of the recent
attack on three villages on the island of Morotai, North Moluccas
(see Report 320) have been arrested. They will be tried in court.
Several thousands of victims of the attack, that initially went
hiding in the forest, have returned to their villages because
shortage of food was imminent.
3. SUSPECTS OF BURNING GOVERNORS OFFICE SENTENCED
The district court of Ambon has sentenced three suspects of the
burning of the gubernatorial office in Ambon on April 3, 2002 (see
Report 254), to sentences of 18 to 22 months. The judge deemed
that they were guilty of inciting the mob that burned the office.
The Team of Muslim Lawyers (TPM) accuses Ambon police of taking no
serious actions in this whole matter, because those arrested were
not directly involved in torching the building.
4. KULUR RESIDENT VICTIM OF LAND MINE On October 5 a
woman from Kulur village on the island of Saparua became victim of
an explosion, probably from a landmine.
5. RETURNING OF IDP-s TO THEIR HOMESTEADS On October 5
the government assisted in moving 1,185 people (275 families) from
Ternate, North Moluccas, to Luari, Tobelo sub-district. It is
reported that since March this year more than 4,514 IDP families
in the North Moluccas have returned to their original villages.
6. BOMB EXPLOSION IN AMBON Two soldiers of Yonif 741/Udhayana
and two civilians were wounded in the morning of October 9 when a
bomb exploded at a marked stand in the Christian neighbourhood of
Batugantung. The incident took place when the military secured the
area where the unexploded bomb was found and a special police team
was expected to decompose the lethal device. The number of
casualties was increased by two wounded, who at the time the bomb
exploded, were driving a car, then pulled out and crashed.
Not long after this, another bomb was found in a telecom shop (Wartel)
on the Yan Paays street in Ambon town. Yet another unexploded bomb
was found near the secondary SMU-1 school in the Batumeja area in
Ambon town. Two bombs were found near the Transmigration Office in
the Muslim Pohon Mangga area at the West end of Ambon town. On
October 11 two grenades were found at the Baku Bae market in the
Pantai Mardika area, Ambon town. A spokesman of the Armed-1
battalion acknowledged that the grenades had been lost during a
routine patrol, but had not intentionally been placed there.
7. BLOODY FEUD BETWEEN KAILOLO AND PELAUW During a
clash between the Muslim villages of Kailolo and Pelauw on the
island of Haruku on September 18, two people were killed. Once
again they took to war on October 11. A Kailolo resident was
seriously wounded by a bullet.
8. TELKOMSEL RESUMES SERVICE IN AMBON On June 23, 2000,
the Telecommunication Office at Tanah Lapang Kecil, Ambon, was
partly destroyed (see Report 1). Since then no mobile telephone
service could be provided. Now Telkomsel, the provider of mobile
telephone services, has resumed its service, so that mobile
telephones can be used again in Ambon.
9. SOLDIER KILLED On Sunday, October 13, a soldier of
the Armed-16 unit was killed during a patrol near kampung
Keranjang, Baguala subdistrict, Ambon. It reportedly was an
accident, in which he was shot by another soldier.
10. KILLED BY MYSTERIOUS GUNMAN On October 13 Abdulhair
Olle (20) from Sirisori Salam, island of Saparua, was killed by
gunshots when at some distance from his village, he was gathering
firewood.
11. WORKSHOP FIREARMS ROLLED UP IN TERNATE Recently the
police rolled up a workshop for fabricating firearms on the site
of a school for theology in Sentiong, Ternate, North Moluccas. A
number of firearms was confiscated. Four persons were arrested.
12. HUNDREDS OF LASKAR JIHAD LEAVE AMBON On October 15,
2002, between 800 to 1000 members of the Laskar Jihad boarded the
Dorondola passenger ship and left Ambon. Provincial police chief
commander Sunarko was in the harbour to oversee their departure.
Sunarko stated that the departure was voluntary and that the
authorities were not directly involved neither had made any
financial contribution to pay for their departure. It seems that
several hundreds of them still are in Ambon; however, they will
leave within a few weeks. Their social and religious activities
will be continued. It is reported that equally on October 16, 200
Laskar Jihad members left Poso (Central Sulawesi), which is
another conflict area.
Several reasons of their departure are proffered: (1) A spokesman
of the Laskar Jihad in Ambon said that their departure is a result
of the decision by the Laskar Jihad leadership, the Ahlus Sunnah
Wal Jamaah, to disband the organization. In fact their
headquarters in Yogyakarta were closed down on October 15. A
speech by Laskar Jihad commander Jafar Umar Thalib, announcing the
dissolvement of his organization, was aired on local Muslim SPMM
radio on October 15. The lawyer of the Laskar Jihad, Mahendradatta,
denied that there was any connection between this measure and the
bloody bomb attack in Bali on October 12. He said that the
decision had already been taken earlier in October because the
government apparently now takes the problem of separatism
seriously and both the army and the police are protecting the
interest of the muslim community in a better way. (2) Other
sources say that their departure was ordered by a fatwa (decision)
by Syehk Rubi bin Hadi Al Wadli from Saudi Arabia, stating that
the Jihad in the Moluccas was over now. (3) The presence of the
Laskar Jihad in the Moluccas is regarded as not longer necessary
as their social and religious tasks can be continued by locals.
(4) On October 16 Jafar Umar Thalib Jafar Umar Thalib stated in
Jakarta that his organization was disbanded based on ideological
considerations. He said that the organization mingled with several
politicians, among them Vice President Hamzah Haz, contaminating
the Laskar Jihad ideology. These non-serious politics disturbed
the principal mission of the Laskar Jihad. (5) A Laskar Jihad
member in Ambon reportedly declared that the organization was
disolved due to lack of sufficient financial support.
Head of national police, general Dai Bachtiar, considers the
dissolvement of the Laskar Jihad as a favourable act, because now
tensions and threats will decrease.
13. LASKAR JIHAD WEBSITE CLOSED The Laskar Jihad
website on the internet (www.laskarjihad.or.id) is closed since
October 12. The website was in fact hosted by a company based in
the USA (Dynamic DNS Network Services LLC, Worcester).
14. BOMB ATTACK IN BATUMERAH In the afternoon of
October 14, a bomb was thrown out of a fast speeding passenger car
when passing through the Muslim Batumerah area, Ambon town. A four
year old boy was hit and lost one of his hands. Meanwhile a woman
fell (or was pushed?) out of the car, upon which she was beaten up
by an angry mass of people.
15. BOMBS FOUND NEAR VICE-GOVERNORS RESIDENCE In the
evening of October 17 a bomb was discovered at the provisional
market of the Christian neighbourhood of Batumeja, Ambon town. The
following morning another one was found at a distance of four
meters from the earlier location. The exact location had a
distance of about 25 meters from the residence of vice-governor
Mrs. Paula Renyaan and about 100 meters from Police Headquarters.
16. UMAR AL-FAROUQ INVOLVED IN MOLUCCAS UNREST Umar Al-Farouq
is said to have admitted that he is connected to the Al-Qaeda
network and that he was involved in several terrorist actions,
including bomb assaults in Ambon. Al-Farouq is probably a Kuwait
national, who holds identification documents from Ambon. A special
combined police-intelligence investigation team confirmed that Al-Farouq
and Abu Bakar Baasyir, muslim clerc and leader of the muslim
organization Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia, know each other. The
latter, however, denies this link.
17. SITUATION IN AMBON IN THE WAKE OF LASKAR JIHAD
DEPARTURE Leader of the Moluccan Protestant Church (GPM),
minister I.W.J. Hendriks, stated on October 18 that the government
has to make use of the momentum now that the Laskar Jihad is
dissolved, to restore security. He said the current situation in
Ambon was peaceful now, because Christians now understand that not
every muslim is a member of the Laskar Jihad, and Muslims are
aware that not every christian is a supporter of the RMS.
From some muslims we learn that there is some worry or feeling of
bereavement among local Jihads now that their Javanese comrades
have left.
Among the common people in Ambon no special utterings of either
euphoria or sadness can be perceived.
People still live in fear of possible bomb explosions. Numerous
bomb threats are received by telephone at schools and other public
facilities, thus not seldom disrupting ordinar daily business.
Every unattended black plastic bag or wrapped up cardboard box is
suspected and reported to the nearest security forces.
Besides, Christians do not yet risk to pass through the Muslim
areas of Batumerah and Galunggung, city of Ambon. Likewise Muslims
do not endeavour to pass through Christian areas.
C.J.Bφhm msc,
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina
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