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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. 267
2002-04-25
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Ambon, 25 April , 2002
1. SITUATION IN AMBON ON THIS 25TH APRIL – It is 2.00 p.m. now.
During the whole morning there has been hardly any activity in
Ambon, at least in the christian quarters of the city. Offices,
schools and shops are closed, traffic is sparse. In the early
morning at some places surreptitiously the RMS flag was raised and
some balloons with the RMS colours could be seen in the sky.
A large muslim crowd gathered at the border of the christian
neighbourhood of Kudamati, causing many Kudamati residents to flee
for safer places. Up to now the locally stationed security forces
seem to hold out.
At 1.15 p.m. a bomb explosion could be heard, immediately followed
by the burning of the Silo Church which is under construction
after the original church had been devastated by fire. We went
there but could not come close enough to see the damage, for the
road was blocked by security forces. At this moment a lot of
shooting can be heard. It is said that there are several victims.
Are we starting all over again?
2. THREE GOVERNORS IN THE NORTH MOLUCCAS – On July 5, 2001,
Abdul Gafur was elected to be the first governor of the new
Province of the North Moluccas, replacing caretaking governor
Abdul Muhyi Effendi. However, when it was discovered that Gafur,
in order to obtain this office, had practiced money politics, the
House of Representatives of the North Moluccas annulated the
election result and on March 7, 2002 chose Thayib Armayin instead.
But on April 19, 2002, Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno
installed a certain Sinyo Harry Saundayang as acting governor to
replace Abdul Muhyi Effendi. Then an alliance of mass based
organizations and non-governmental organizations installed Abdul
Gafur as the new Governor. All three sides claim that their action
was in line with the Autonomy Law of governors, regents and
mayors. The one who now in fact is staying in the governor’s
residence is Sarundayang. He is being protected by hundreds of
security personnel, due to the presence of several hundreds of
Gafur’s supporters who want to hand over their petition to the
acting governor. Meanwhile influential Djafar Sah, the sultan of
Tidore, expressed full support for Gafur’s installation as
governor (summary of report in The Jakarta Post daily, April 23,
2002).
3. NORTH MOLUCCAS REFUGEES TO RETURN ON OWN EXPENSES – Jakarta
based Sinar Harapan daily newspaper provides some information on
the situation of the refugees of the North Moluccas, which we may
summarize as follows. The interreligious conflict in the North
Moluccas caused a mass exodus of refugees – both Christian and
Muslim – towards the end of 1999. The number of those killed
then was 2.083, whereas 1.767 were seriously injured. As many as
97 governmental, educational and medical facilities were
destroyed. The number of mosques destroyed was 97, churches 106,
residents’ houses more than twenty thousand. The number of
refugees was 44.423 families or 199.605 persons. These fled to
various other places in the North Moluccas, among others to
Central Halmahera and to the city of Ternate. Many fled to safety
in Bitung and Manado (North Sulawesi). Others to Sorong (Papua),
S.E.Moluccas, Java etc. Especially Ternate is still crammed with
Muslim refugees. Those that are not shielded in theatres,
churches, schools and barraques, are staying in Christians’
empty houses. That is the main reason why Christians cannot yet
return to Ternate, their houses either being destroyed or used by
refugees from Halmahera. Though good mutual understanding between
the erstwhile conflicting parties is rapidly growing, returning to
one’s homestead is very much hampered by insufficient funds for
travel expenses, rehabilitation and empowerment efforts. Thus most
of the refugees are expected to return and rebuild their lives on
their own account. For the year of 2002 the government focuses its
attention and fincancial help to the refugees staying in Ternate
(Muslims) and the Tobelo area (Christians).
C.J.Böhm msc, Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina
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Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina
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