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Govt
to lift emergency status in North Maluku
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The
Jakarta Post
March
6, 2003
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Govt to lift emergency status in
North Maluku
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta
The government is preparing a presidential decree that will lift
the civil emergency status in North Maluku, which has been in
place for three years due to sectarian violence.
Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno said the government
considered that security in the province had improved to normal
levels.
"The situation in North Maluku is relatively conducive and it
deserves a normal status," Hari said after a ministerial
meeting on political and security affairs in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The government, however, has no plan to lift the emergency status
in the neighboring province of Maluku, despite the improvement in
security there.
Sectarian conflict between Christians and Muslims first broke out
in the Maluku capital of Ambon on Jan. 19, 1999 and spread to the
northern part of the province, which was eventually separated as a
new province. Thousands were killed during the violence.
The government of President Abdurrahman Wahid imposed the
emergency status in July 2000. The administration of his successor
Megawati Soekarnoputri placed Maluku and North Maluku under a
security restoration operation in May 2002, three months after
both warring groups signed a peace agreement in the South Sulawesi
town of Malino.
Hari said he had received a report from new North Maluku Governor
Thaib Armayin saying the province's status should be restored. The
provincial administration is preparing the establishment of police
and military institutions.
He said civil emergency status would be maintained in Maluku
because illegal possession of arms remained rampant particularly
in Ambon and its surrounding areas, despite routine searches for
weapons.
Besides, Maluku has no definite government following the end of
the tenure of Saleh Latuconsina last November. The government has
named caretaker governor Sinyo Sarundayang, the director general
of national integration under the home minister, to prepare a
gubernatorial election.
"The acting governor is deliberating the provincial budget
with the provincial legislature, which is expected to be passed
later this month," Hari said.
After the provincial budget is approved, Sinyo will have to resume
the election process of the Maluku governor.
"We will wait until the situation is thoroughly under control
and a governor is elected before we lift the civil emergency
status in Maluku," Hari said.
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