CRISIS CENTRE DIOCESE OF AMBOINA Jalan Pattimura 32 � Ambon 97124 � Indonesia Tel 0062 (0)911 342195 Fax 0062 (0)911 355337 E-mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Ambon, July 23, 2002 THE SITUATION IN AMBON / MOLUCCAS � Report No. 301 1. COURT ACKNOWLEDGES UMAR THALIB�S OBJECTION � Laskar Jihad Chief Jafar Umar Thalib was arrested at Juanda Airport, Surabaya, on May 4, 2002 (See Report 277). He then was sent on to Jakarta, where he subsequently was detained at Police HQ on charges of agitation and slanderous remarks against the President while speeching in Ambon. Jafar Umar Thalib recently filed an objection at the Ambon District Court over his detention as ordered by the Ambon Prosecutor�s Office on July 2. After a series of sessions from July 15 to July 20 in Ambon, Judge J.Hehamony concluded that indeed the arrest warrant, issued by the head of the Ambon Prosecutor�s Office, contained legal flaws, especially the fact that the arrest warrant had been issued and signed on July 2, whereas the head of the Ambon Prosecutors�s Office, Raharusun, had left Ambon on June 30. The court, therefore, accepted the objection filed by the defense lawyers, led by M.Rachman Marasabessy. However, the Judge rejected the defense lawyer�s plea to the court to release Jafar Umar Thalib from detention, considering the fact that on July 15 the East Jakarta District Court had extended Umar Thalib�s arrest for another 30 days. 2. UNREST IN THE TOBELO AREA � A trustworthy source in Tobelo, North Halmahera, Province of the North Moluccas, provided us by fax and telephone the following information on recent unrest in the Tobelo area. Since June 29 on several occasions there were bombs explosions in Gorua, a mixed Muslim-Christian village not far from the Kecamatan Capital of Tobelo. So security forces executed sweeping on weapons in that village searching the houses one by one. This yielded an astonishing harvest of several dozens of rifles and pistols, 121 homemade bombs, 10 standard grenades, 73 detonators, a lot of ammunition and various other kinds of weaponry. In the early morning of July 11, again, there was a bomb explosion in Gorua, followed by bursts of gunfire from a Muslim crowd, accompanied by the dreadful yell �Allahu Akbar!� Thereupon they started to proceed to the meanwhile assembled Christians. However, security forces of the military Zipur-5 Brawijaya battalion succeed in dispersing the masses by firing warning shots. The Christians then made for Tobelo. Those from the nearby village of Tolonuo � including Protestant minister Gerti Tawa-Tawa � too, hurriedly left their village and fled to Tobelo. A second round of sweeping on weapons in Gorua, again yielded a significant number of weapons and ammunition being confiscated. The next day a minibus with 10 Christian passengers � after reporting to the local security forces � endeavoured to pass through Gorua, however, was halted by a crowd of some 300 locals, armed with large chopping-knives (�parang�) and stones. The driver and some passengers were injured in this incident. Due to this escalating unrest, many Christians from nearby villages fled to Tobelo; the Christians from Duma fled to Loloda. Meanwhile 18 people suspected of being behind this renewed unrest were arrested and taken to Ternate. On July 13 minister Gerti Tawa-Tawa together with some members of his flock decided to go to Tolonuo and try to retrieve some belongings they had not been able to take with them when they fled the village two days earlier. It turned out that during their absence a lot of looting had taken place, both from the church and from private houses. They counted 25 houses of which the doors and window-panes had been smashed in. A bomb explosion on July 15 in the village of Mamuya injured a 50 years old woman. There also looting of cattle and property took place. Our informant, however, insists that many Muslims in Tobelo very much disagree with all this savageness. C.J.B�hm msc, Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina
