INDONESIA(RENEWED): STOP THE WAR IN MALUKU !

URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT 

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEAL PROGRAMME 

AHRC UA Index:000602 2 June 2000 
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UA 26/00: Sectarian Conflict 

INDONESIA: STOP THE WAR IN MALUKU ! (RENEWED) 
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AHRC recently sent out the Urgent Appeal \”INDONESIA: Stop the war in Maluku!\”, UA 25/00. We are renewing this appeal, as we have received some more detailed and disturbing information from reliable, local sources. The 
situation is quite disastrous and requires urgent intervention. 

NEW INFORMATION 

Galele District, Province of North Maluccas: waves of ¡°rioters¡± have made a series of surprise attacks on the villages of Mamuya, Makete, Duma and Dokulamo. In Mamuya alone, on May 25, 26 people were killed and 51 wounded (including non-Christians). The victims of the other three villages on May 29 numbered 44, and around 300 houses as well as at least one church in these villages have been burned down. Security officers have been seen taking side with the rioters, shooting at Christian survivors and doing nothing to obtruct the attacks of the rioters. 

The people are traumatised. Some mothers have threatened to commit mass suicide if Christians are not protected and no assistance is provided by security officers. 

NEED FOR FURTHER ACTION 

One battalion of the TNI (Indonesian Armed Forces) has been sent to Galela after the requests of the local church and community leaders, but they were driven away by the ‘rioters’. Far greater numbers of effective security 
forces (government-controlled security forces, UN Human Rights Monitors, etc.) are needed to repel the rioters, many of whom are well-armed and openly committed to a Jihad, or Holy War, against the (largely defenceless) Christians of Moluku. 

The Indonesian Defense Minister has now blamed the attacks on supporters of former President Suharto attempting to destablise the current President Wahid [BBC report, 2/6/00] which would also indicate a need for the UN to intervene. We are sending the original appeal below, together with this 
brief update. If you have not done so, please send your letters to the relevant authorities, as indicated at the end of the appeal. 

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UA 25/00 
STOP THE WAR IN MALUKU ! 

AHRC has been receiving increasingly alarming and desperate calls for attention for the rising violent situation throughout the Moluccan Islands, East Indonesia. The fighting between the Christian and Muslim populations, which began about 2 years ago through a seemingly inocuous conflict between a Muslim migrant and Christian taxi driver has grown into a sectarian war, fuelled by religious prejudices as well as political and economic interests. 

In the last week, the fighting, already spreading throughout the 
archipelago, has escalated with the arrival in Ambon of an estimated 2000 Muslim ¡°jihad(holy war) warriors¡± and prompted those who have been trying to hold out within the beleaguered areas to once more call for international help to end the violence. An appeal for protection of which 
they sent to the UN in February this year appears to have fallen on deaf ears. 

In Ambon, an AFP report on May 19 quotes Marnatha Protestant Church officials as saying: ¡°We have to request UN intervention because the government¡¯s security troops can no longer stand up to and top clashes in this province¡¦..law has long ago been abandoned in Ambon and its surroundings¡±¡¦¡¦ : ¡°We are very intimidated by the presence of the Jihad force¡¦they have dominated most parts of Buru Island, and the whole area of Banda and Seram islands¡±. 

The Jesuit Refugees Service (JRS) quotes their source: ¡°Ambon is in extreme danger. The Jihad fighters coming from Java are launching fierce attacks, and the army and police are doing nothing. Only a small number of young 
Christians are trying to defend themselves without any weapons¡±¡¦.. 

JRS estimates that there are at present 80,000 refugees and displaced persons needing humanitarian assistance. 

Although the causes of the conflict in the North and South of Maluku are different, since the clashes started more than 3000 people have been killed and women have been systematically raped and tortured and hundreds of 
thousands of people forced to flee to other islands and provinces. Much has been destroyed, both materially and socially, as distress, pain, suspicion and fear drive the communities further apart and hopes of reconciliation 
fade away. 

The arrival of the ¡°jihad warriors¡± has also put the regional military command into a more difficult position, and they vent their anger at the Indonesian authorities for not stopping thethe fighters from leaving Java. With local commanders determined to stop the fighting also becoming more 
nervous about having to face the high powered weapons of the warriors and issuing orders to shoot on sight anybody with weapons, the cycle of violence will only rise. 

AHRC joins in with all the voices calling for an end to the killing, raping and destruction, and calls on the Indonesian government as well as the international community to heed the cries of the people and to take action to stop the violence immediately. 

SUGGESTED ACTION 

Please write letters to the President of Indonesia, Mr. Wahid, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs. Robinson and the National Human Rights Commission in Indonesia. Your letters should alert them to the scale of the problem and the urgent need for their intervention. A sample letter follows; the addresses are printed at the end. 

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER