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Indonesian deputy steps into Moluccas row
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BBC
World News
Monday, 13
May, 2002, 11:35 GMT 12:35 UK
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Days after the Indonesian Government vowed to expel Muslim
militants from the Moluccas islands, the country's
vice-president has said Christian separatists should first
disband.
Hamzah Haz, who leads Indonesia's largest Muslim party, was
speaking after opening a national meeting of Laskar Jihad, a
paramilitary group accused of fuelling religious violence in the
eastern island chain.
Last week, Mr Haz was criticised for visiting the detained
Laskar Jihad leader Jafar Umar Thalib who is accused of inciting
violence which may have led to a massacre of Christian villagers
last month.
Correspondents say Mr Haz's public show of support for Laskar
Jihad is exposing rifts inside the government over how to treat
the group.
On Friday, Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he
had ordered the removal of the Java-based Laskar Jihad and the
disbanding of the mainly Christian separatist group, the Maluku
Sovereignty Front (FKM), to try to save a shaky peace deal.
Religious violence
Muslims and Christians signed a peace deal in February in
which they called on militia groups to surrender their weapons.
But the deal has been undermined by a series of violent
incidents, most notably the attack last month in which at least
12 Christian villagers were killed.
Mr Haz on Monday said he agreed with the government's
expulsion order on Laskar Jihad, but said the Christian
separatists should disband first.
"FKM first, and then after that there should be no
threats against the people and Muslims should feel protected,
and Laskar Jihad should do the same way," he said.
The FKM gained prominence last month when its leader Alex
Manuputty was arrested and charged with treason for planning to
raise a separatist flag.
Christians and Muslims in the Moluccas used to live
peacefully. But in January 1999 violence erupted between the two
communities, sparked by a minor traffic accident in the main
city of Ambon.
The violence intensified in mid-2000, with the arrival of the
Laskar Jihad. The group is still the biggest obstacle to lasting
peace, according to analysts.
Some analysts link the group to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda
network, but both Laskar Jihad and the Indonesian authorities
deny this.
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