MALUKU PEOPLE URGED TO END VIOLENCE by Fardah

    Jakarta, Aug 14, 2014 (Antara) - Following two recent communal clashes that had killed 11 people and injured tens of others, Maluku authorities have urged the public to maintain stability and live peacefully and harmoniously despite differences in their beliefs.

        "Let us maintain security and stability in Maluku and not be provoked," Maluku Governor Said Assagaff said in Ambon, Maluku, on August 8, 2014.

        The recent communal clash occurred in Ambon on July 31, 2014, involving neighboring villagers of Seith and Negeri Lima, Central Maluku District, which had led to the death of four persons and injured five others.     The incident also left 21 houses burnt and several others seriously damaged.

        The second clash involved villagers of Luhu and their neighbors in Iha village, West Seram District, Maluku Province, on August 4, 2014.

        The clash led to the death of seven people, injured 95 others, and burnt three buildings, including an elementary school and an Islamic junior high school.

        Governor Assagaff recently visited the injured who were being treated in two hospitals, in Ambon and Makassar, South Sulawesi Province.

         Regarding the clash in Seith and Negeri Lima, Ambon police spokesman Senior Commissioner Bintang Juliana said recently that an investigation was still underway.

       According to him, the clash was triggered after a Seith villager, Benjamin Maju, of Nahai hamlet, Negeri Lima village, was fatally stabbed.

         Benjamin's death incited the emotions of the Seith village residents, who then launched a revenge attack on the Nahai hamlet in Negeri Lima village, which resulted in the deaths of Usman Moni of Seith village and Duba Selli, Kaimudin Soulisa, and Wahid Suneth of Negeri Lima village.

         The communal clash in West Seram District was believed to have started after the death of Hasan Waliulu in Iha village on July 31, 2014.

        However, according to another report received earlier, the clash was triggered by the death of Juraid Puttuhena, an Iha villager whose body was found near Luhu village.

         Many people suffered injuries during the clash, as the villagers used arrows, guns, and daggers.

        Deputy District Head of West Seram La Husny visited the families of the victims following the incident. "We hope that the clashes will stop immediately, as it has claimed civilian lives and caused prolonged suffering," he emphasized.

          West Seram District Head Jakobus Puttileihalat called for the arrest of the perpetrators of the clash and asked to set up a blockade between the two villages.

         The West Seram Police had deployed 30 Mobile Brigade officers to end the deadly clash between the residents of Luhu and Iha villages, Huamual Subdistrict, West Seram District, Maluku Province.

         "The Mobile Brigade officers were deployed using speedboats to enable them to reach the villages in a very short time," Maluku Police's spokesman Adjunct Senior Commissioner, Hassan Mukadar, said recently.

        According to Chief of the West Seram police Adjunct Senior Commissioner Syahbuddin Nasution, the police has not yet named any suspect in the communal clash.

        "Our priority is to maintain security and stability and also to prevent further clashes," he added.

        Following the two separate incidents, Chief of the Pattimura Regional Military Command Major General Meris Wiryadi reminded the people of Maluku to live harmoniously and end clashes because violence can only lead to suffering.

        "I invite the villagers to stop committing violence and once more start living peacefully side by side. Eliminate resentment and jealousy. Let us live harmoniously in a tolerant society for a better future," Wiryadi stated recently at a meeting with prominent traditional figures and village heads of Maluku.

        To tighten security in Maluku, some 500 military personnel from the Indonesian Defense Forces' Armed Battalion 13/IV/I/K task force of Subang, East Java, have been deployed.   
     They arrived at Ambon on August 7, 2014, to maintain security and stability in the province, which was once torn by deadly sectarian clashes.

        In January 1999, clashes between Christians and Muslims broke out in Ambon, the capital of Maluku Province, and quickly spread to many islands in the Indonesian province. Although there was occasional respite during the subsequent two years, around five thousand people had been killed and 500 thousand displaced from their homes.

         The conflict at the time divided the people along religious lines, though the cause of the clash had been ethnic, economic, and political rivalries.

         In February 2002, a peace agreement between the two rival communities, which was negotiated by the Indonesian government, mostly brought an end to the troubles in Maluku.***1***
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