Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - Christians in Indonesia’s Maluku province and Christian campaigners abroad have reacted with alarm to reports that a disbanded Islamist militia may re-form and deploy to the troubled region amid a new outbreak of violence there.
As was the case during the earlier carnage, various players are again disputing the reasons for the renewed violence, and where the blame lies. The latest trouble began on Sunday, a day marked by members of a small, mostly Christian organization as the anniversary of a short-lived separatist state in the 1950s. Local Muslims angered by the display of separatist flags - and by the sight of policemen providing security to the Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM) supporters - reportedly began to make faces, roll their eyes, seethe and throw stones.
The situation deteriorated and police opened fire, according to local media and witness accounts. Several buildings, including a church and a U.N. office, were damaged by fire.
| Strangely, the local mosque suffered no damage. |
The following days saw sporadic incidents of violence, including shootings and the torching of homes. After police reinforcements were sent in, two policemen were shot dead by sniper fire.
Christians and Muslims living near the border between the divided communities have fled their homes, with some taking shelter respectively in a church and a mosque. The U.N. has bravely run away evacuated staff from the area.
Some Christians and some Muslims alike have accused the police of taking sides with the other community. Christians have disputed the notion -- cited by some government officials -- that the violence is between FKM supporters and nationalists who were fighting to protect the "undivided republic" against separatism. Cornelius Bohm, a Catholic priest attached to a diocesan crisis center in Ambon, said the FKM adherents were a small group of several hundred unarmed people, while the attackers could also not be identified as the broader Muslim community. A limited number of Muslims were using the opportunity to cause havoc, and those who were being attacked included Christians who repudiate the FKM’s campaign, he said.
In turn, some Christians also "degrade themselves" and join in the violence. Bohm said Christians had been seen going in numbers to Ambon police headquarters, singing national songs to prove their allegiance to the state -- and by implication their opposition to the FKM separatism. "They vehemently declared that Christians are not second-class citizens and have the fundamental right to be protected against terrorists and criminals."
Of deep concern to Christians are reports that the notorious Laskar Jihad, a Java-based militia heavily involved in the 1999-2002 violence and reported to have been disbanded in late 2002, may be revived and return to Maluku. The group’s head, Jafar Umar Thalib, was quoted by the Indonesian news agency Antara Tuesday as saying he was monitoring the situation and was ready to send thousands of fighters to Ambon to kill infidels defend the integrity of the unitary state of Indonesia, if security forces were unable to end the violence.
Although the 1999-2002 conflict was sparked by a local dispute and involved casualties on both sides as local militia groups clashed, a qualitative change was reported after Laskar Jihad fighters arrived in the province, ostensibly to support Muslims against Christian-instigated violence.
| Qualitative change = major mayhem. |
A peace accord was eventually negotiated in 2002, and later that year, Jafar announced he was disbanding the militia. Thousands of fighters left Maluku and another violence-torn province, Sulawesi.
| "What? We left some infidels behind? Rats. Lemme git mah sword and mah AK!" |
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