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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. 301
2002-06-23
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Ambon,
July 23, 2002
1.
COURT ACKNOWLEDGES UMAR THALIB’S OBJECTION –
Laskar Jihad Chief Jafar Umar Thalib was arrested at Juanda
Airport, Surabaya, on May 4, 2002 (See
Report 277). He then was sent on to Jakarta, where he
subsequently was detained at Police HQ on charges of agitation and
slanderous remarks against the President while speeching in Ambon.
Jafar Umar Thalib recently filed an objection at the Ambon
District Court over his detention as ordered by the Ambon
Prosecutor’s Office on July 2. After a series of sessions from
July 15 to July 20 in Ambon, Judge J.Hehamony concluded that
indeed the arrest warrant, issued by the head of the Ambon
Prosecutor’s Office, contained legal flaws, especially the fact
that the arrest warrant had been issued and signed on July 2,
whereas the head of the Ambon Prosecutors’s Office, Raharusun,
had left Ambon on June 30. The court, therefore, accepted the
objection filed by the defense lawyers, led by M.Rachman
Marasabessy. However, the Judge rejected the defense lawyer’s
plea to the court to release Jafar Umar Thalib from detention,
considering the fact that on July 15 the East Jakarta District
Court had extended Umar Thalib’s arrest for another 30 days.
2.
UNREST IN THE TOBELO AREA – A trustworthy source in
Tobelo, North Halmahera, Province of the North Moluccas, provided
us by fax and telephone the following information on recent unrest
in the Tobelo area.
Since
June 29 on several occasions there were bombs explosions in Gorua,
a mixed Muslim-Christian village not far from the Kecamatan
Capital of Tobelo. So security forces executed sweeping on weapons
in that village searching the houses one by one. This yielded an
astonishing harvest of several dozens of rifles and pistols, 121
homemade bombs, 10 standard grenades, 73 detonators, a lot of
ammunition and various other kinds of weaponry.
In
the early morning of July 11, again, there was a bomb explosion in
Gorua, followed by bursts of gunfire from a Muslim crowd,
accompanied by the dreadful yell “Allahu Akbar!” Thereupon
they started to proceed to the meanwhile assembled Christians.
However, security forces of the military Zipur-5 Brawijaya
battalion succeed in dispersing the masses by firing warning
shots. The Christians then made for Tobelo. Those from the nearby
village of Tolonuo
– including Protestant minister Gerti Tawa-Tawa – too,
hurriedly left their village and fled to Tobelo. A second round of
sweeping on weapons in Gorua, again yielded a significant number
of weapons and ammunition being confiscated.
The
next day a minibus with 10 Christian passengers – after
reporting to the local security forces – endeavoured to pass
through Gorua, however, was halted by a crowd of some 300 locals,
armed with large chopping-knives (“parang”) and stones. The
driver and some passengers were injured in this incident. Due to
this escalating unrest, many Christians from nearby villages fled
to Tobelo; the Christians from Duma fled to Loloda. Meanwhile 18
people suspected of being behind this renewed unrest were arrested
and taken to Ternate.
On
July 13 minister Gerti Tawa-Tawa together with some members of his
flock decided to go to Tolonuo and try to retrieve some belongings
they had not been able to take with them
when they fled the village two days earlier. It turned out
that during their absence a lot of looting had taken place, both
from the church and from private houses. They counted 25 houses of
which the doors and window-panes had been smashed in.
A
bomb explosion on July 15 in the village of Mamuya injured a 50
years old woman. There also looting of cattle and property took
place.
Our
informant, however, insists that many Muslims in Tobelo very much
disagree with all this savageness.
C.J.Böhm msc,
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina
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