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Dutch
businessman dreams of independent Ambon
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Australia
Associated Press
Friday April 26, 2002 |
By Catharine Munro, South-East Asia Correspondent
JAKARTA, Umar Santi has only been once to the Indonesian province
he one day hopes to help govern.
But the independence movement of which he claims to be deputy
leader for the Maluku islands has become a destabilising political
force in the province's strife-torn capital, Ambon, observers say.
The 48-year-old Dutch businessman dreams of one day being part of
the government of the Republic of South Maluku (RMS) and describes
himself as the European representative for the movement.
"I think it's my duty to help the people of Maluku to be
free," Santi said during an interview in Jakarta.
Santi was born in the Netherlands of Ambonese parents and only got
time away from his job agency business in Europe to visit Maluku
once, in 1995.
This week he was barred from joining independence protests in
Ambon because the provincial government has temporarily banned
foreigners from entering the province.
The last time he visited was well before fighting between Muslims
and Christians, which began in 1999, destroyed the city, once the
destination for an annual yacht race from Darwin.
Well over 5,000 people have been killed throughout the so-called
Spice Islands as a result of the fighting.
At independence protests yesterday a church was burned, six people
were injured by a mortar explosion and 27 were arrested.
The unrest further tested a peace deal struck two months ago which
had already been undermined by a recent bombing of the governor's
office.
Members of the Christian-based Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM) had
been commemorating the anniversary of the declaration of the RMS
in 1950 when Indonesia was still in the process of becoming a
nation.
The RMS did not survive because republicans prevailed over those
among Indonesia's founding political leaders who wanted a
federation of states. The Maluku instead became a province of the
Republic of Indonesia.
The FKM was established two years ago by a local doctor, Alex
Manuputty, who wanted security forces to better protect Christians
in the religious fighting.
Manuputty is in jail facing treason charges.
Support for independence is not widespread in the Maluku, unlike
independence movements in the easternmost province of Papua and in
Aceh, near Malaysia on the northwest tip of Sumatra.
Kees Bohm, a Dutch priest who has lived in Ambon for decades, said
he doubted many locals wanted an independent Maluku Republic.
"I think a lot of casualties are caused by this silly
movement," Fr Bohm said by telephone from Ambon.
"It's fuelled by extremists from Holland."
A so-called "government in exile" of three still exists
in the Netherlands.
They come from a community of Ambonese who fought with the Dutch
East Indies Army and moved to Europe after World War II while they
waited for the establishment of a Malukan Republic that never
occurred.
Fr Bohm claims the revival has only served as ammunition for
anti-Christian Muslims who claim that its existence proves all
Christians want to break away from Indonesia.
"It's putting a weapon in the hand of Muslims to destroy
Christians," Fr Bohm said.
"Every Christian is considered to be a supporter."
Ironically, Santi is a part of the tiny Muslim minority in the
Netherlands' Ambonese community.
He denies that his independence movement is a destabilising force.
"It's not an action of violence, it's an action of
peace."
He claims the FKM has a following of 10,000 but admits there are
only 50 active members.
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