Tiarma Siboro and Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono has issued a directive ordering the dissolution
of the pro-independence Maluku Sovereignty Front(FKM), and the
expulsion of reputed troublemakers, including the militant Laskar
Jihad, from Maluku.
Comr. Gen. Ahwil Luthan, inspector general at National Police
Headquarters, said the directive, which was aimed at ending the
prolonged conflict, took effect on May 8, 2002.
"The directive is effective as of today (Wednesday) but
its enforcement depends on the Maluku authorities," he said
after a ministerial meeting on security and political affairs here
on Wednesday.
Ahwil represented National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, who
is visiting Japan.
The directive, Ahwil said, also asked the security authorities
and all security personnel deployed in the province to launch
door-to-door raids to disarm militias and their supporters, and
for law enforcers to investigate all violations of the law that
had occurred during the three-year-old conflict.
Ahwil further said that the recent arrest of Laskar Jihad
commander Ja'far Umar Thalib was due to his alleged violation of
Articles 134, 136, 154 and 160 of the Criminal Code through his
slandering of the President, spreading enmity against the
government and inciting the people to violence.
Separately, analysts blamed the Indonesian Military (TNI) for
the mounting problems in the troubled Maluku islands following the
signing of a peace deal last February.
They strongly urged that firm action be taken against Maluku's
Pattimura Military Commander Brig. Gen. Moestopo for what they
termed his reluctance to prevent violence in the islands.
"The Pattimura Military Commander has sabotaged the Malino
agreement by allowing fresh attacks to occur," prominent
sociologist Tamrin Amal Tomagola told The Jakarta Post on
the sidelines of a seminar here on Wednesday.
He was referring to the peace accord signed on Feb. 12 in the
South Sulawesi hill resort of Malino by Muslim and Christian
leaders to end the three-year conflict in Maluku, which has led to
the deaths of some 6,000 people.
Tamrin of the Jakarta's state-run University of Indonesia said
that under the Maluku state of civil emergency, in effect since
July 2000, the provincial police chief was responsible for
security in Maluku. But, in reality, Moestopo had been taking
control there.
"As the civil emergency authority's chief, Maluku Governor
Saleh Latuconsina has also been rendered impotent as he has been
cut out of the equation by the Pattimura Military Commander,"
he added.
He refrained from urging TNI Chief Adm. Widodo A.S. to sack
Moestopo for his failure to enforce the law against troublemakers
in Maluku, but said the relevant authorities should first
investigate the reasons behind his inaction.
Kusnanto Anggoro, a political scientist with the Centre for
Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), concurred with Tamrin.
He said the Pattimura military leaders were guilty of
insubordination against the Maluku civil emergency authority in
its efforts to restore peace to the islands.
"It's true that there has been a tendency for the military
to try to sabotage the Malino peace deal," Kusnanto said on
Wednesday, adding that Latuconsina had been deprived of control in
Maluku.
More than 20 people have been killed in the fresh violence that
broke out despite the historic peace pact, including a powerful
bombing and the burning of the governor's office last month.
The latest violence came late last month when a gang of masked,
well-trained assailants attacked the Christian village of Soya,
near the Maluku capital of Ambon.
Tamrin further said that the recent series of attacks were
perpetrated by non-Maluku people, or outsiders, and were aimed at
provoking more sectarian fighting between local Muslims and
Christians.
"Actually the grassroots are already prepared to comply
with the Malino peace agreement. It is in reality the central and
local elite who are not ready to do so," Tamrin said.
He cited as an example the fact that the central government had
yet to establish an independent team to investigate the sectarian
conflict, and those involved, a commitment which was part of the
peace pact.
Another reason, Tamrin said, was the struggle for power between
the military and civilian leaders as Latuconsina's term of office
would end on May 10.