The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Maluku investigation team's mission is unlikely to fulfill
people's sense of justice as their authority has been limited to
providing recommendations to put an end to the conflict.
In its first public statement on Monday, the team's chairman I
Wayan Karya said they would only provide "scientific
recommendations".
"We are members of a probe team and the result of the
investigation will be 'scientific' recommendations to be submitted
to the government in order to put an end to the Maluku
conflict," Wayan said.
He further said that the team does not have any deadline to
complete their tasks, and will set up its work plan on June 24.
"We plan to go to Maluku within the next two or three
weeks and start our observation of conditions in the
province," said Wayan, a retired police officer.
Wayan's deputy Bambang W. Soeharto, as if to confirm public
skepticism, said on Monday that his team was not authorized to
determine the root cause of the violence that has already claimed
over 6,000 lives since it started in 1999.
"The team will focus on reconciliation and peace
efforts," Bambang said after a meeting with Coordinating
Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono and Coordinating Minister for Social Welfare Jusuf Kalla.
He emphasized that the team would not open the "people's
wounds as it does not have the heart to see the prolonged
suffering of the Ambonese people".
When pressed to clarify whether his statement meant that the
team would not seek the real perpetrators of the violence there,
Bambang said that his mission "does not have the authority to
do so".
The government announced on Thursday the establishment of a
14-member independent team to probe violence in Maluku as
stipulated in Article 6 of the Malino Peace Agreement signed by
the two warring parties in February 2002.
Analysts have blamed poor law enforcement against perpetrators
of violence there as one of the reasons why the religious conflict
has worsened since the two parties signed a peace deal in Malino,
South Sulawesi in February.
The people had expected that the team would unravel the truth
behind the bloodshed that has destroyed long-standing peace and
religious tolerance in Maluku.
Human rights activists earlier expressed concern that the
Maluku team would meet a similar fate as nine other investigation
teams formed by government since 1998 to look into human rights
violation cases, which reported no significant findings.
During Monday's meeting with Susilo and Jusuf Kalla, team
members received "directives" on how they should start
their duties.
"But, the directives will not influence our independence
as we will also look into the involvement of security officers in
the prolonged conflict," Wayan said