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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. 344
2003-11-01
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Ambon, January 11, 2003
1.
SAVED BY ERSTWHILE ADVERSARY On January 8, a speedboat,
having set off from Passo and bound for the island of Ceram, got
in trouble when passing the Muslim village of Tial, only a few
kilometers East of Passo because a rib of the vessel broke and
water gushed in. Immediately residents from Tial came out to save
the endangered 14 Christians that were on board.
2. FOUR WOMEN DROWNED On January 10, 2002, speedboat
Imanuel left the town of Saparua for the village of Ouw on
the island of Saparua (Saparua lies east of the island of Ambon).
Besides two crew members and two Brimob security forces there were
16 passengers on board: an overload for this small vessel that had
also to cope with a rather turbulent sea. When passing the village
of Sirisori Islam, the boat turned over, causing four women to
drown. This disaster has indirect connection with the Moluccas
conflict, insofar, because of the still uncertain situation on
Saparua, the road between the town of Saparua and Ouw is
blockaded, so that people that want to go to Saparua, have no
choice than going there by boat.
3. PROTESTING HIGHER FUEL PRICES All over Indonesia
there are vehement protests going on against the recent increase
of prices on fuel, electricity and telephone, which mostly affects
the little man. Ambon is no exception. On January 9, protest
demonstrations were held by several hundreds of students from the
Muslim STAIN Academy and separately by several dozens of
students of the Pattimura University. The day before, the chairman
of the Provincial House of Representatives, Z. Sahuburua, had
already asked the central government to grant exemption on this
rise of prices considering of the poor economic condition the
Moluccas is in.
4. MEETING OF VILLAGE CHIEFS Today a three days
meeting of traditional village chiefs will be concluded. The
meeting has been organized by the Pattimura University together
with the Baku Bae reconciliation movement. We intend to report on
the results of this meeting later.
C.J.Bφhm msc,
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina
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