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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. 294
2002-06-12
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Ambon, June 12, 2002
1. VISIT TO AMBON BY VICE-PRESIDENT – Vice-President Hamzah Haz,
since taking office, has been entrusted by the President to take
special care of conflict areas, including the Moluccas. Yesterday,
accompanied by a group of high officials from Jakarta, he paid his
first visit to Ambon. In coming to Ambon he responded to an
invitation by the “Group of Eleven”, calling themselves
“Forum Musyawarah Umat Muslim Maluku” = Moluccas Muslim
Meeting Forum (see Report 241 – Febr.24,2002). The Provincial
and Town’s authorities, though initially a little baffled as
they had officially been informed on this visit only very
belatedly, nevertheless had made the necessary preparations to
make it a non-political visit-for-all.
2. VISIT TO SOYA – In order not to evoke similar criticism like
he had to endure following his visit to Laskar Jihad leader Yafar
Umar Thalib in his detention in Jakarta, Hamzah Haz, having
arrived at about 11.45 a.m. at Pattimura Airport, Ambon, went
straight to the Christian mountain village of Soya, at a distance
of about 5 kilometers East of the city of Ambon. This village had
been attacked last April 28, leaving 12 dead and 13 injured, 35
houses and the old venerable protestant GPM church destroyed (see
Reports 270-272). On local radio and TV broadcasts he could be
heard and seen engaged in dialogue with the local residents, also,
visibly moved, listening to the outcry of a sobbing woman that had
lost two of her children in the carnage. He promised extra
protection to Soya in order to prevent any such thing to happen
again. He also donated a hundred million rupiahs (± US$ 11,760.-)
as a contribution for rebuilding the destroyed church.
3. MEETING WITH LOCAL LEADERS – The next stop was the aula of
the military Masariku 733 complex (“Benteng Victoria”) in the
centre of the city of Ambon, where an official meeting was held
with Muslim and Christian representatives of the local government,
adat elders, religious leaders, leaders of youth organizations,
Malino delegates etc.
In his speech, governor M.S.Latuconsina reported that the Moluccas
Agreement of Malino had not immediately produced the so much
yearned for change for the better: there had been serious
disturbances following the Agreement, such as the bomb explosion
in the Yan Paays Street (April 3), the burning of the Governmental
Office building (April 3), the RMS-flag hoisting (April 25), the
attack on Soya (April 28) and two fatal attacks on speedboats.
The secretary of the Muslim Malino delegation, Nasir Rahawarin,
stressed three principles to be fulfilled: humanity, justice and
nationalism.
Tony Pariela, chairman of the Christian Malino delegation,
emphasized the need for implementation of the Moluccas Agreement
of Malino, and asked that all talking about “Christian RMS”
should be proportional to the factual situation.
In his address the Vice-President stressed the importance of the
Moluccas Agreement being accepted by all as a persisting condition
for restoring law and order in the Moluccas.
4. FURTHER MEETINGS – The crowded program that had been laid out
for the Vice-President included also visits to an Islamic health
centre and an exemplary elementary Islamic school in the Kebun
Cengkeh area at the outskirts of the city, a relaxed meeting (“silaturahmi”)
with representative fellow-Muslims, a meeting with his own
political party (PPP = Partei Persatuan Pembangunan) and, at the
Al-Fatah Mosque site, witnessing the surrender of weaponry by
local muslims and laskar jihad to the security forces. This
weaponry included, among many other items, 24 standard rifles. It
was already rather late in the evening when the visitors returned
to the airport to board their plane back to Jakarta.
C.J.Böhm msc,
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina
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