Australian Broadcasting Corporation (AM News, via Joyo): 28 September 1999
AMBON: STORIES OF INDONESIAN ARMY ATROCITIES EMERGE
Stories are emerging from the Indonesian island of Ambon. Racked by eight months of communal killings and under martial law, recent violence in Ambon has gone almost unreported as the world's eyes and cameras have turned to East Timor.
ALISON CALDWELL reports
COMPERE: The allegations are all too familiar - the burning of churches,
death at the hands of the mob, and complicity by Indonesian troops accused
of
committing their own atrocities instead of restoring peace. But rather than
East Timor, this time the stories are emerging from the Indonesian island of
Ambon. Racked by eight months of communal killings and under martial law,
recent violence in Ambon has gone almost unreported as the world's eyes and
cameras have turned to East Timor.
But now reports are emerging, including one of a recent Indonesian army-led
attack on Christians sheltering in a church in Ambon, the capital of Maluku
province. Twenty-four people were killed in that attack. Hundreds of others
have died in the conflict between Muslims and Christians, and as recently as
last month mosques issued a call for a jihad or holy war.
A member of the Ambonese Catholic clergy who's now fled Ambon for Australia
says there are obvious divisions within the Indonesian Army between marines
seeking to restore order and strategic command troops seemingly determined
to
thwart moves for peace. Alison Caldwell reports:
ALISON CALDWELL: Riots between Christians and Muslims in Ambon. Gunshots are
fired, young men wield swords and home-made mortars. Indonesian strategic
command troops known as the Kostrad stand by and watch. Reverend Dr John
Titaley has come to Australia to call for a UN presence in Ambon to stem the
violence which has claimed the life of his 46-year-old brother Julius.
JOHN TITALEY: For the Ambon people, especially the Christians, it is like
living in uncertainty. They are afraid of what's going to happen today, and
they are not suer about what's going to happen the day after today and so
on.
ALISON CALDWELL: What's the most recent incident that's been reported?
JOHN TITALEY: It was - it was last week on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday it
was a big fight when the Muslims were trying to bother the army, and they
were being fired - shot by the army. And then when the Christians were
defending themselves - their territory, and then came another army which has
not been very neutral. Instead of stopping the tension between the Army and
the Muslims, they are trying to shoot the Christians. And this is how about
four people died and 24 - something like that - have been victims
[inaudible].
ALISON CALDWELL: In the days leading up to August 13 about a dozen Christian
homes were burnt to the ground. We heard reports of an attack on a village -
Galala village - on August 13.
JOHN TITALEY: Yes. That was - it was - you know, Galala village is basically
a Christian village, and they were being attacked by the other side with the
help of the Army - the opposite one. And then when they were riding into the
Galala village, the Christians there cannot start this attack because when
they were trying to do so, then the army would shoot under. And then when
they are [inaudible] into the village, then the other side can do the
[inaudible]. And in that Galala incident, it happened that when the
Christians were finding refuge in the church then the army came right into
the church and shooting people then burned the churches, including the
people
there. There were about 20 to 25 people being killed in that church.
ALISON CALDWELL: Sixty per cent of the population of Ambon is Muslim. Dr
Tetaeli fears the recent violence is part of an army-backed campaign to rid
the Maluku province of Christians.
JOHN TITALEY: All this has been started since January 19 - almost seven,
eight months - and it looks like it is an endless conflict. It is an endless
conflict because the military, who are supposed to keep law and order, looks
like not serious in doing so. If they just want to stop the conflict, they
can do it easily.
COMPERE: The reverend Dr John Titaley speaking to Alison Caldwell.