JAKARTA (Agency): The government on Tuesday ordered authorities
in Maluku province to arrest the masterminds behind fresh
religious violence, but said martial law was not yet needed,
reports said.
Coordinating Minister for Security and Political Affairs Susilo
Yudhoyono said on Tuesday there was "still a chance"
that the regional administration could bring peace to the
archipelago,which has seen three years of religious violence
"We are not yet going to impose martial law," he told
reporters.
On Sunday, masked assailants armed with grenades and automatic
weapons stormed a Christian village on the outskirts of the
provincial capital, Ambon, killing 12 people, including a
6-month-old baby.
The fatal assault, which followed three days of unrest,
undermined a peace deal signed in February between the two
communities intended to stop the bloodshed. Up to 9,000 people
have been killed in Maluku and North Maluku conflicts.
"The violence must be stopped. Whatever happens, the
perpetrators and the provocateurs must be arrested," Susilo
said. "The government has instructed it."
Ambon, which since the conflict has been divided into Christian
and Muslims sections, was quiet on Tuesday, though shops and
businesses were open as usual, AP reported.
Christian leaders in the province, have blamed Laskar Jihad, a
paramilitary Muslim group, for the latest violence.
The group, which arrived from Indonesia's main island of Java
midway through the conflict, rejects the peace deal and is
refusing to hand over its weapons.
Susilo refused to say whether Laskar Jihad would be expelled
from Maluku as part of the security measures.
Martial law would give the local military command sweeping
powers, including the right to detain people for at least 50 days
without trial.
The province is currently under civilian emergency rule, one
step lower than martial law.
"The government is of the opinion, and the president also
gave her own opinion, that a state of military emergency can be
imposed if the situation really worsens and can no longer be
overcome by a mere civilian emergency," Susilo said late
onMonday, according to the Antara news agency.
Maluku governor Saleh Latuconsina has recommended that the
18-month-old state of civilian emergency, which he heads, be
upgraded to a military emergency, as has a team of officials sent
from Jakarta to assess conditions, Susilo said after a security
meeting on Ambon.
The team, comprising top security officers and officials from
the attorney general's office and home ministry, was dispatched
Monday to help authorities in the provincial capital Ambon,
following the slaughter of 12 Christian villagers in a pre-dawn
raid by masked attackers on Sunday.
Susilo said that many politicians, mass organizations and
legislators have called for a military emergency in Maluku.But he
warned that such a move could entail actions considered abuses of
human rights.
"It should be fully understood that if the
people,politicians, the parliament and mass organizations want a
military emergency, there will be a number of consequences,"
he said.
In February, the government brokered a peace pact between
representatives of Maluku's warring Muslim and Christian camps in
an effort to end over three years of sectarian violence which has
already killed more than 5,000 people and displaced over half
amillion people.
