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High alert as Ambon
rebel held
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The
Australian
May
6, 2002 |
From Don Greenlees in Jakarta
TROOPS and police on the eastern Indonesian island of Ambon are
bracing for further sectarian violence after police arrested the
leader of the country's most notorious Islamic extremist group,
blamed for inciting the resurgence of unrest.
The arrest of Jaffar Umar Thalib, leader of the Laskar Jihad
militia, coincided with renewed violence in Ambon city, the
capital of Maluku province. Residents claimed mortar shells were
fired into a Christian quarter on Saturday, leaving two people
dead and a large number wounded.
Hundreds of residents have fled neighbourhoods on the border
between Christian and Muslim enclaves, sheltering in government
buildings or in hills behind the seaside city.
After news of Mr Thalib's arrest broke, a large mob of his
supporters formed and began moving on Christian areas. Police and
troops managed to break up the protest by firing tear gas and
warning shots.
Soldiers based in Ambon city yesterday told The Australian the
situation was under control, but forces were on high alert.
The latest violence follows an April 28 attack on a Christian
village on Ambon that killed 12 people -- the worst incident since
the signing of a peace accord three months ago.
Two days before the attack, Thalib issued a call to arms during an
address to a crowd at the Al-Fatah mosque in Ambon city. A
recording of the sermon is being used by the national police to
justify the criminal charge of inciting violence.
Although the arrest has sent a welcome sign of Jakarta's
determination to defend the peace accord, there are concerns it
could rouse militant elements in a conflict that has by some
estimates claimed 6000 lives.
The Laskar Jihad, a militia formed on Java and sent to Maluku in
2000 to assist local Muslims in the conflict with Christians, has
up to 500 members left in the islands, although at its peak its
membership numbered several thousand fighters.
The decision to arrest Mr Thalib has come as a surprise because of
the central Government's earlier timidity in confronting
extremists. Some diplomats and analysts in Jakarta have alleged
the Laskar Jihad was entirely the creation of certain senior
elements of the military.
They say Jakarta has also been fearful of cracking down on such
organisations without strong proof because of the risk of
provoking a wider backlash among the mostly moderate Indonesian
Muslims.
But Mr Thalib appeared to have crossed the line in a colourful
speech on April 26 in which he appealed to Muslims to "get
your horses ready to launch a universal war against your
enemies".
According to a translation, Mr Thalib told his cheering audience
to "discard any riches in order to make grenades".
What may have prompted authorities to act was a statement by Mr
Thalib that he wanted to kill President Megawati Sukarnoputri and
all the other relatives of her father, Indonesia's founding
president Sukarno.
Mr Thalib was arrested by police in the East Java capital,
Surabaya, after returning from Ambon. He was then flown to
national police headquarters in Jakarta. In initial police
questioning, he denied the voice in the tape recording was his.
But police spokesman Brigadier Saleh Saaf told a press conference
Mr Thalib had broken the law by "preaching and insulting the
Government" and by making statements that "provoked
Muslims and asked them to prepare bombs".
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