VIOLENCE BREAKS OUT ONCE MORE IN AMBON

INDONESIA

28 April 2004

New clashes in Ambon leave as many as 36 dead and look set to flare into a situation as serious as that of 1999.

At least 36 people have now died as a result of violence which began on Sunday 25 April in Ambon, South Malukus. Police and army personnel deployed on the streets to watch a political procession were stoned by a mainly Muslim crowd and fired shots to disperse the crowd. Fighting then broke out. Four UN cars and a UN office in Ambon were set ablaze on Sunday by Muslim mobs wielding knives, machetes and homemade guns. A church and a Christian university were set alight, and several refugee shelters were also heavily damaged. Many residents fled the area as some 200 homes were burned, reminiscent of scenes in 1999 when serious anti-Christian violence first broke out.

The violence was ostensibly sparked off by a flag-raising event in commemoration of a failed bid at independence which took place 54 years ago. About a dozen members of a little known and mostly Christian separatist movement, Republic of South Maluku (RMS), attempted a parade in the city. As such the violence is being portrayed as clashes between separatist rebels and unionists whose response to an intentionally provocative demonstration is entirely patriotic. However, it is clear that hardline Muslims responsible for the violence used the demonstration to attack Christians as part of the systematic Islamisation of Indonesian provinces. Yet the violence continues to be misrepresented as a sectarian conflict with equal atrocities committed on both sides.

A late report on Monday suggested there were 10 Muslim deaths out of a total of 29. There are clear indications that these deaths were largely the result of police attempts to stop the Muslim mob by firing at the crowd. In apparent confirmation, the head of a hardline Jakarta-based Islamic organisation said his men would take over from the police “who have killed our children there”. Husein Al-Habsyi, head of Ikhwanul Muslimin, threatened on Monday to send thousands of jihad fighters to Ambon because the police there are said to have tolerated the existence of Christian separatists by escorting their procession.

CHRISTIAN LEADER DECAPITATED

On Sunday 25 April Septer Sanabuky, the director of a leading evangelical seminary in Ambon, the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Indonesia, was travelling on a motorcycle with one of his students, Mr. Berti Manopo, when they were surrounded by a mob and abducted. Their bodies were later found; both men had been tortured and beheaded.

Further incidents include an attack against 25 Christians as they made their way through the Muslim dominated harbour area into the city after disembarking from a ship that arrived from Kupang. The passengers were met by police trucks to carry them to safety; however, the 10 accompanying police officers could not prevent all 25 Christian passengers from being stoned and even stabbed. All of them were taken for treatment to the Bakti Rahayu hospital and the GMP Hospital, which has been relocated for security reasons.

SITUATION DETERIORATES

On Monday the Indonesian government sent two companies of paramilitary police (around 200) to augment the 1000 or so security forces already present in and around Ambon. In addition, some 450 soldiers were dispatched from Jakarta. The violence was thought to have been quelled late Monday, with the atmosphere tense, yet stable.

However, a sniper shot dead at least two policemen Tuesday 27 April as Islamists used the rooftops of evacuated city-centre buildings as perches from which to scout out victims. This continued violence in the face of peacekeeping efforts by security forces indicates that the response to Sunday’s commemoration was indeed a cover used by militant Islamists to carry out systematic attacks and further their agenda of radical Islamisation for the province.

Gunfire and explosions continued to be heard throughout Tuesday night, and a Protestant church and many homes were torched overnight. The Minister of the Interior Sabarno arrived in Ambon early on Wednesday 28 April, to assess the situation for himself. He insists that the situation is under control, yet reports of further acts of violence continue to come in.

OUT OF CONTROL?

In a serious and potentially far-reaching turn of events, the Islamic militant group Laskar Jihad has announced a comeback. Laskar Jihad was responsible for most of the 9000 deaths that occurred in the Malukus between January 1999 and October 2002. Just days after the Bali bombings that killed 202 people on 12 October 2002, the paramilitary group claimed to have disbanded in Maluku. However, the group’s leader, Jafar Umar Thalib, was quoted on Tuesday 27 April 2004 as saying, “Laskar Jihad will again become involved in Ambon if the government is deemed unable to overcome the situation.” This is highly ironic since it is militant Muslims that the government security forces are trying to overcome. Everyone else has either fled or been sent away from the area by the military. According to a crisis centre operated by a Muslim student body, more than 2000 Muslims and Christians have fled their homes.

PRAY

* Pray that Christians will be allowed to live in peace in South Maluku. * Pray that the testimony and forbearance of Christians in Ambon will be a witness to Muslims with whom they come into contact. * Pray for the families of those who have been killed in this latest outbreak of violence. * Pray specifically for the families of Septer Sanabuky and Berti Manopo. Septer leaves a wife and two very small sons. Pray for the remaining staff and students of the seminary as they seek to share God’s love and grace in this terrible situation.

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