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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. 335
2002-12-10
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Ambon, December 10, 2002
1.
IDUL FITRI CELEBRATION WITHOUT DISTURBANCE – Idul Fitri, end
of the fasting month Ramadan, was celebrated in Ambon and – as
far as we know – everywhere in the Moluccas without any
disturbance. It was a refreshing experience to walk freely in some
Muslim areas, shaking hands and happily smiling one to another.
However, some Muslim friends advised Christians to stay clear of
certain areas, just to avoid any misunderstanding.
2. BLOODY INTERNAL CONFLICT – Yesterday two neighbouring
muslim villages on the Northern part of the island of Ambon (Leihitu
peninsula), namely Asilulu and Ureng, clashed, causing the death
of three villagers; 24 were wounded. Some 30 houses were burned.
The clash started due to a small incident the day before: a
speedboat from Ureng came too close to a sampan (paddle longboat)
from Asilulu, causing one of the sampan’s crew falling out of
the boat because of the big waves trailing the speedboat. The
helmsman of the speedboat afterwards was beaten up by people from
Asilulu. The following morning the villagers of Ureng – feeling
humiliated – launched a large-scale attack on Asilulu, in which
two residents of Asilulu and one resident of Ureng were killed by
gunfire. The police has succeeded to put the situation under
control.
3. DEMONSTRATION AGAINST APPOINTED ACTING GOVERNOR – On
December 9 a demonstration took place in front of the Al-Fatah
Mosque in Ambon town, protesting the assignment of Sinyo Harry
Sarundayang as the impending acting Governor of the Moluccas.
Several hundreds of demonstrators, who claimed to belong to the
joint front of Moluccas Muslims, stated that the government should
not install a person who does not know about the conditions in the
Moluccas; they also criticized Sarundayang’s performance during
his period as the acting Governor of the North Moluccas. Muslim
oriented “Ambon Ekspress” daily newspaper, however, reports on
the statement of a number of local Muslim organizations
(specifically the GPII, IKSAMUNI and IMM) that disagree with this
demonstration and urge the Muslim community to accept this
government appointed acting Governor. Meanwhile from trustworthy
source in Ternate we learned that Sarundayang performed well
during his recent tenure in the North Moluccas.
C.J.Böhm msc,
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina
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