[Kabar-indonesia] Indo News - 7/19/04 (Part 2 of 2)
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Tue Jul 20 12:12:15 MDT 2004
- Maluku refugees await promised aid
- Female reverend shot dead in Palu
- Woman minister killed in Indonesian church
- Sectarian violence fears after Sulawesi priest murdered
- Religious leaders condemn attacks, urge restraint
- Shootings in Central Sulawesi
- Small bomb explodes in restive Poso
- East Timor: Last Indonesian governor is first jailed over violence
*****************************
The Jakarta Post.com
National News
July 19, 2004
Maluku refugees await promised aid
M. Azis Tunny, Masohi
Refugees from the Maluku conflict are still living precariously despite
hundreds of billions of rupiah allotted by the central government to alleviate
the problem.
In 2003, the government reportedly provided funds of Rp 176 billion (US$20
million) in addition to Rp 30 billion given in an earlier addition to the
budget. This money does not include assistance from non-governmental
organizations, donors and foreign aid.
Despite the money, data from Central Maluku's Social Welfare Office reveals
there are 12,494 refugee families still in deprived circumstances scattered
through 19 districts.
Many of these families say they have still not received any aid for
resettlement or compensation for homes destroyed in the conflict.
One such family is that of La Jamudin, 50, his wife, Wa Nauke, 45, and their
five children, who abandoned their home in Saru village, Saparua, on Feb. 17,
1999, when sectarian violence began to rock Maluku. "When we left our home in
Saparua for Masohi we only brought enough clothing and the children's school
certificates. We thought that it would only be temporary," Jamudin said.
The construction worker-cum-farmer and his family are now living in a small
house they rent for Rp 70,000 a month. They have been living in the house in
the Lesane suburb in Masohi, for more than two years.
Before that, they had been moving from one relative's place to the next. "We
still don't know when the government will provide us with a house," he said.
Jamudin and Nauke have already asked for official help and have the proper
documents. During government data collection for the provision of House
Building Materials (BBR), Nauke went to Saparua to arrange papers stating they
were refugees. Saparua subdistrict chief J. Titaley prepared the documents.
While waiting for the expected BBR aid, Jamudin borrowed Rp 1,800,000 to buy a
small plot of land in nearby Haruru. He said that if the plot was developed and
resold, it could fetch up to Rp 3,500,000.
"We've already borrowed money to buy a plot of land and to build the house's
foundations because we thought we would be reimbursed. They promised us that
they would give us the BBR aid if we possessed refugee status documents. But
they're only promises. Frankly speaking, I'm not hoping much for government
assistance. I have to work hard to support my family. If we don't work, we
don't eat," he said.
Lesane subdistrict head Wahda S. said refugees living in her area would only be
assisted if they were listed by the subdistrict and the social welfare office.
She said 62 refugee families in Lesane had received the BBR aid in early 2003,
while there were still 399 families or 2,013 people on the waiting list. "The
BBR aid will be provided in two stages. Only 62 families have so far been aided
in the first stage," said Wahda. She did not say whether the Jamudin family was
on the list.
The remaining refugees must report to the subdistrict office with their refugee
status documents and land certificates to obtain the second stage of the BBR
aid, she said.
Central Maluku Social and Welfare Office head Albert Wattimena said refugees in
the Masohi regency numbered 12,494 families spread over 19 districts. Most of
them were concentrated in the Teo, Nila, Serua, Amahai (TNS) and Masohi
districts.
The office had provided 3,325 families with BBR aid in 2003, Albert said, but
it had yet to determine when the families would get their BBR aid this year.
More than 1,000 families in Central Maluku were allocated BBR aid in 2004,
which would be distributed to refugees in four districts -- Tehoru, Amahai, TNS
and Masohi, he said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
Headline News
July 19, 2004
Female reverend shot dead in Palu
Irvan NR, Palu
An unknown assailant shot dead a female reverend on Sunday night during a
sermon at Effata Church in the Central Sulawesi capital of Palu, some four
hours away from the restive regency of Poso.
Susianti Tinulele, the 29-year-old reverend, was shot dead while delivering a
sermon. The unknown assailant showered bullets on dozens of churchgoers,
seriously injuring four of them.
Adj. Sr. Comr. Victor Batara, the Central Sulawesi Police's spokesman, said
that the shooting began at 7 p.m, when a man suddenly entered the church on Jl.
Banteng here and shot at Susianti. Another version said that there were two
assailants, one stayed outside the church to hold a security guard, while the
other entered the church and showered bullets on the reverend and her
congregation.
The man quickly fled the scene after the incident, leaving the people in panic.
Sunday's shooting followed a bombing and two separate murders in Poso regency
on Friday and Saturday.
Susianti was the second reverend shot dead in Central Sulawesi in the past four
months. Another reverend, Freddy Wuisan, was shot dead in Membuke, Poso regency
in March this year. Two weeks after Freddy's murder, two unknown assailants
showered bullets on churchgoers attending an Easter sermon at the Tabernacle
Church in the religiously divided regency of Poso. Seven people were injured.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Woman minister killed in Indonesian church
Mon 19 July, 2004 13:24
By Karima Anjani
Jakarta (Reuters)
Gunmen burst into a church in eastern Indonesia and shot dead a female reverend
and wounded four of her congregation as she delivered her sermon, sparking
fears of fresh religious violence, officials say.
All four of the wounded were teenagers and one of them, an 18-year-old girl
shot in the left eye, had only a slim chance of surviving after the raid late
on Sunday in Palu city in Central Sulawesi, a police spokesman said on Monday.
Palu is near the regency of Poso, where more than 2,000 people have died in
Muslim-Christian clashes 1999.
"Five men opened fire at the front door of the Effata church after threatening
the security guard," said spokesman Victor Batara from Palu, about 1,500 km
(900 miles) northeast of Jakarta. The gunmen fled on two motorcycles.
Protestant minister Susianti Tinolele, who previously lived in Poso died at the
scene, he said.
Local media reported Tinolele, 29, fell straight to the church floor after a
bullet rammed through her skull, prompting around 100 churchgoers to
frantically run for safety.
A yellow police line now encircles the church, and police barred onlookers and
the media from the scene of the crime.
Christian leaders in Palu have called on followers to shun any form of
retaliation as the identities of the gunmen are still unknown.
Central Sulawesi police said one of the main gunmen had long hair but buried
his face under a blue cap, but offered no details on the other attackers.
The motive was not known, spokesman Batara said. "But clearly they want to
disturb security as it has been relatively safe recently."
In Jakarta, President Megawati Sukarnoputri told reporters: "I ask the public
to be alert because we must maintain security and political stability ahead of
the final round of the presidential election."
Megawati is expected to face her former security minister in a run-off vote on
September 20 after a first round election failed to produce a majority for any
of the five candidates competing. The top two vote-getters go to the run-off.
Indonesian financial markets have been nervous about possible violence during
the elections.
Chief Security Minister Hari Sabarno told reporters the incident could spark
fresh religious tension.
"This certainly will create a situation that can lead into ...conflict," he
said.
"When the target is a religious leader from a specific religion, people may
think this was done by another religion," he said, without indicating if any
specific group was suspected.
"Of course, we cannot accept that a priest who was giving a sermon be shot like
that. The person who did it was inhuman."
Security forces in the province were hunting for the attackers, police said.
The incident comes after an Easter shooting in April in Poso town that wounded
seven people, including a four-year-old girl and last May's murder of a
prosecutor in Palu after he attended a Bible-reading session.
Some 85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million people are Muslim. In some eastern
parts, such as the Poso-Palu area, Christian and Muslim populations are about
equal in size.
Since the Asian economic crisis of the late 1990s, Indonesia, the world's
fourth largest country, has experienced political turbulence and sporadic
ethnic and religious clashes.
Several attacks, including the October 2002 Bali blasts that killed 202 people,
have been blamed on the al Qaeda-linked militant Jemaah Islamiah network.
Five alleged members of the group were convicted in Palu on various charges
under anti-terrorism laws in March.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ABC Radio Australia News
20/07/2004 02:00:58
Sectarian violence fears after Sulawesi priest murdered
A woman priest has been shot dead and a number of worshippers wounded in the
latest attack against Christians in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province.
Our correspondent in Jakarta, Tim Palmer, says Indonesia's national police
chief Dai Bachtiar is to travel to Palu to personally supervise the
investigation.
Reports say five men rode motorcycles up to the Presbyterian Church in Palu in
the early evening, one of the attackers entered then opened fire with a
military-issue rifle killing the 29-year-old minister and wounding four members
of the congregation, one of them critically.
Anti-Christian violence in Central Sulawesi has flared since the shooting of 10
people last October.
A Christian prosecutor working on Jemaah Islamiyah-linked cases and another
priest were recently ambushed and murdered in the region.
Authorities fear the attacks could be an attempt by Islamic extremists to
plunge Central Sulawesi back into the sectarian conflict that claimed around
1,000 lives four years ago.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
Headline News
July 20, 2004
Religious leaders condemn attacks, urge restraint
The Jakarta Post, Palu
Central Sulawesi remained calm on Monday, a day after masked gunmen killed a
Christian minister in Palu, as Christian and Muslim leaders condemned the
attack and urged their laity to shun revenge.
Meanwhile, calls grew for the dismissal of Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig.
Gen. Taufik Ridha and his senior subordinates for failing to end mysterious
attacks in the province blamed on unidentified gunmen.
The demand was raised separately by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) central
board and Central Sulawesi Christian Church (GKST) secretary Noldy Tacoh.
Noldy and Frederik Latupeirisa, a former secretary of the Sulawesi Church Youth
Commission, even went as far as saying that National Police chief Gen. Bachtiar
should also be dismissed over the latest bloodshed.
"Aside from the provincial chief, the national police chief should also be
removed because they could not ensure that Christians are able to perform their
religious rituals in peace in the country," Frederik said.
Da'i arrived in Palu on Monday and visited the scene on Jl. Banteng, Palu, and
the house of Reverend Susianti Tinulele, 29, who was shot dead in Sunday's
incident.
Grief gripped the woman's home on Jl. Lembu in South Palu, after the attack
that took place when attackers burst into the Effata Presbyterian church and
opened fire at around 7 p.m.
Susianti died on the spot while four others were injured, including one who is
in a critically condition in hospital.
GKST chairman Arnold Tobondo denounced the killing and called on all Christians
to stay calm.
He also demanded that police capture the assailants and uncover those behind
the deadly attack.
Condemnation also came from Central Sulawesi's Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI)
chairman S. Saggaf Aljufrie who immediately called for a meeting to prevent the
situation from worsening.
"The shooting was an act which went against religious and human values," he
said, while appealing to Muslims and followers of other religions not to be
provoked by the incident.
Saggaf said that if the attackers were Muslims, they acted on behalf of
themselves, not Islam, adding that they must be arrested soon to face justice
under prevailing laws and in order to pacify local residents.
Saggaf and Arnold said the police should not let the latest shooting remain
unsolved as in the case of May's murder of Christian prosecutor Ferry Silalahi
who had also been slain by masked assailants.
He was shot dead in his car after attending evening mass in another church in
Palu.
"Our region is like no-man's-land as people can carry guns freely and shoot
innocent people," Saggaf said.
Da'i said he would deploy more intelligence officers and detectives to help
capture the attackers and unravel the case. He did not give any numbers.
Local police said they had distributed sketches of the attackers, who according
to witnesses arrived on two Yamaha RX King motorbikes, across the province.
Hontiles Magindali, an eye witness, said that minutes before the incident he
saw two men enter Effata church's veranda and point a gun at a security guard
named Ungke.
Ungke was later brought by the gunmen into the church, where Christians were
listening to a sermon by Susianti, Hontiles added. They sprayed bullets through
the church killing the woman minister.
Another eye witness Tiok Noersoelistiyo said the attacker were well-built men
and had fired several shots before entering the church.
In Jakarta, acting chief security minister Hari Sabarno said the attackers were
attempting to trigger renewed conflict. Up to 2,000 people were killed in
sectarian fighting that broke out in Poso between 2000 and 2001.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri ordered the police to apprehend the attackers
as soon as possible. "I ask the people to remain alert because we have to
maintain political stability and security ahead of the Sept. 20 presidential
election," she said.
Data from the GKST shows at least 17 shooting incidents have hit Central
Sulawesi since last October, all targeting Christians.
In April at least one gunman sprayed bullets into a church in Poso regency
during a choir practice. Seven people, including a four-year-old girl, were
injured.
In other shootings Christian minister Yohanis Tajoja was shot dead in front of
his wife. Another man was killed and a female university lecturer wounded in
another attack.
In the worst bloodshed last year, gunmen killed 10 people in attacks on mainly
Christian villages in October.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Masariku Network
Senin 19 Juli 2004
Shootings in Central Sulawesi
My dear friends in Christ,
I hope all of you are doing fine. Here I come to you again with another very
unpleasant news about Central Sulawesi. FYI, I just came back from Central
Sulawesi: Palu, Tentena (10 - 14 July 04) leaving Manado on July 8 evening and
in Tolitoli on 15-17, leaving Tentena on July 14 noon. We went by 2 cars
started from Manado. My organization: SAG had a Training program for 18 Sunday
School teachers from Tentena and its surroundings and 6 from Palu, while at the
same time Crisis Center SAG conducted a workshop on Reconciliation Empowerment
for 24 IDPs in Tentena. Everything went well, but suddenly on the way back home
to Manado, I received 2 very surprising news especially about the last one as I
just arrived home. Here are the news:
1. On Friday, July 16 at around 18.30 local time, in Pandiri Atas village, appr
18 km from Poso city direction to Tentena, people found a dead body recognized
as Melky alias Kiky, male, 25 (Moslem). He was stabbed all over his body,
hands, neck and ead. One of his tombs was cut. He lives in Bonesompe in Poso
City. Melky is a motor bike driver who serves people in Poso until Tentena
(people pay him for taking them on his motor bike). Motor bike is used as one
of the public transport FYI, nowadays the Moslems and Christians begin to feel
more free to come and go either to Tentena for the Moslems, and to Poso City
for the Christians. At appr 13.00 people in Kawua village, 2 km from Poso City,
saw Melky driving his motor bike, a Suzuki Shogun type, with plate no. DN 3531
AT, with a Yonatan (Christian), 23, on the back (from his ID card, Yonatan is
from Kancuu village) heading to Tentena. Around 13.30 people in Pandiri village
saw Yonatan driving the same motor bike alone. With this report a team of Poso
police lead by the head of Poso police, after him, then on unday, 18 July at
18.00 he was caugh in Pancasila village, 75 km from Tentena direction to
Pendolo. Yonatan is now detained in Poso Police station. According to the
police assumption, Yonatan killed Melky in Pandiri Atas village then hid the
body, after that he drove back to Kawua, but then on the same day (maybe when
the day is dark already, because no one saw him), he ran with the same motor
bike to Pancasila village.
2. On Saturday, 17 at appr 20.30 Mrs. Helmy Tombiling, 35 (Christian), lives in
Sayo, Poso City, was found dead in front of her house. She was stabbed to death
9 times in her chest and stomach. Mrs. Helmy's husband, James Harimisa is a
military and is assigned in Poso Military station. Both of them are originally
from North Sulawesi. Mrs. Helmy has a small business in front of their house:
selling gasoline. According to eyewitnesses, she came out from her house
because there were 2 men with athletic body shape and tall riding motor bike,
again with Suzuki Shogun type, plate no. DN 4969 AD want to buy gasoline, but
before she did anything they directly stabbed her until she died. Her body is
now on the way to North Sulawesi by an ambulance and will be buried in Kali
village in Pineleng District, North Sulawesi. FYI, all vehicles and motor bikes
with plate numbers DN are from Central Sulawesi, and for Palu area always start
with A, and for Poso District starts with E. It means the 2 motor bikes are
registered in Palu.
3. On Sunday, 18, a pastor, Susianty Tinulele used to be called as Susi, 26,
originally from Wawopada village near Beteleme village in Morowali District,
was shot to death with a bullet near her right ear, while she was still on the
pulpit. Susi was just being ordained as a pastor in GKST. The shooting took
place while she is leading the Sunday evening worship (usually starts at 18.00)
in one of the congregations of Central Sulawesi Christian Church/GKST (GKST is
Rev. Damanik's church) named Efatah. She just finished her preaching and was
asking the vocal group to sing. Four of the worshipers, members of Efatah
congregation were also shot. They are: Kris Midianto, male, 18, was shot on his
right thigh, Farid Mehingko, male, 15, was shot on his left knee, Lustiani,
female, 15, was shot on her left thigh, now they are in Budi agung hospital in
Palu, and in Salvation Army (Bala Keselamatan/BK) Palu, Desrianti Tengkede,
female, 17, was shot on her left forehead went down through her right eye part.
Her middle finger and ring finger of her left hand were also shot. She is now
in a very critical or coma condition. According to the eyewitnesses, the pastor
was shot by a man from the church front door which appr 25 m from the pulpit.
He came with his 3 other friends riding 2 Yamaha motor bikes. All these 4 men
wearing black masks. Again they are all tall with athletic body shapes. 2 from
these 4 men shooting the worship attendees using machine gun SS 1 type. After
shooting, they ran away to the same direction.
My dear friends, from the 2 last incidents it is proved that the attackers are
professional or well trained men and the actions were planned carefully and had
been waiting for some time for a right moment to be in action, because the way
Mrs. Helmy was stabbed and Susi was shot, shown that these cannot be done by
average people.
Please keep praying for the better condition in Poso, Palu and Central Sulawesi
in general.
Yours in Christ always,
Mona
PS. While typing this I just received a call from Palu saying that Desrianti
Tengkede just passed away at 02.05 in the same hospital. The operation could
not save her life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Small bomb explodes in restive Poso
Jakarta, 7/18/2004 2:43:35 PM (AFP)
A home-made bomb blew up outside a packed sports hall in the restive Central
Sulawesi town of Poso but caused no casualties or damage, police said Sunday.
"It was definitively a home-made bomb that was put in an open sewer outside of
the sport hall," said the Poso district Police Chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Abdi Darma.
The blast struck around 9:00 pm (1400 GMT) Saturday as the sport hall was
packed with hundreds of people attending a music and dance festival there.
Darma told AFP by telephone from Poso that the low intensity bomb only caused
cracks in the concrete lining of the gutter as well as panic among the hundreds
of people inside the hall.
Many of the people rushed to get out of the building but there was no stampede
and no one injured, he said.
He said that police were investigating the blast but that no one had been so
far questioned.
In another part of Poso, the wife of an Indonesian soldier was stabbed to death
near a local military barrack at about the same time, Darma added. Darma said
that police were investigating the case.
More than 1,000 people were killed in clashes between Muslims and Christians in
Poso in 2000-2001.
The government brokered a peace deal in December 2001 but sporadic violence has
continued.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Asia Pacific/Radio Australia
East Timor: Last Indonesian governor is first jailed over violence
19/07/2004
The first person to be convicted of human rights abuses in the lead up to East
Timor's independence referendum has begun his three year jail sentence. The
former Indonesian appointed governor of East Timor, Abilio Soares, has been
convicted of involvement in the bloody violence which claimed up to 14 hundred
lives during the 1999 vote. Soares denies any wrongdoing, and claims he's been
made a scapegoat for the Indonesian military officers who co-ordinated the
violence.
Presenter/Interviewer: Marion MacGregor
Speakers: Jim Dunn, former Australian consul in East Timor; Rosentino Amado
Hea, East Timor human rights lawyer; Ketut Murtika, Abilio Soares' prosecutor
and the Indonesian Attorney General's director of human rights
MACGREGOR: Abilio Soares was taken to Jakarta's Cipinang prison on Saturday to
begin a three year stint behind bars for crimes he committed in East Timor in
1999.
As he was taken to the jail from Kupang in Nusa Tenggara, the last Indonesian
governor of East Timor was still claiming his innocence. He says he's a
scapegoat and those who are truly responsible for what happened in the
territory at that time are being let off the hook.
The violence before and after the August self-determination ballot left as many
as two thousand people dead and much of East Timor destroyed by rampaging
Indonesian troops and militias which they had armed and trained.
Eighteen people, mostly military and police officials, have been tried over the
bloodshed. Six have been convicted and sentenced. But Abilio Soares, a civilian
and an ethnic East Timorese, is the first to go to jail.
In East Timor, the news of his imprisonment has had a lukewarm reception. Human
rights lawyer Rosentino Amado Hea.
HEA: People all know, East Timor people know also, he not have responsibility,
strong responsibility to deal with the security situation at that moment. We
doubt he is involved, he is a victim.
MACGREGOR: Many outside East Timor support Abilio Soares' claim that he's been
unfairly targetted. Jim Dunn is a UN expert on crimes against humanity and
former consul in East Timor when it was under Portuguese rule.
DUNN: Abilio Soares was only a small player. He didn't plan the campaign to set
up the militia, to carry out violence and to sabotage the UN mission that was
of course to be responsible for the plebiscite. He certainly is a scapegoat.
MACGREGOR: Of the military and police officers originally charged and brought
to trial by the human rights court in Jakarta, twelve have been acquitted. Yet
many of them, according to Jim Dunn, were clearly implicated in the violence.
DUNN: Colonel Sediono, who actually stood by gave orders outside Suai, when the
massacre took place, and another TNI Lieutenant Colonel who was also
responsible for what happened at Maliano. These have a lot more to answer for.
I wouldn't say that Abilio Soares was not responsible for participating.
Obviously he wanted the outcome, and the outcome was for East Timor to stay
with Indonesia. But there are more serious commanders who are responsible, and
I suppose ultimately one of them was General Wiranto himself.
MACGREGOR: Indonesia remains under intense pressure from human rights groups to
bring these former generals to justice. Ketut Murtika, Abilio Soares'
prosecutor and the Indonesian Attorney General's director of human rights says
the process is not yet over, with several cases against men like the regional
commander Adam Damiri and the former army chief Nur Muis as well as civilian,
Eurico Guterres, pending in the Supreme Court.
But that still leaves the big fish like General Wiranto and the then chief of
territorial affairs, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. They've still not been
prosecuted in Indonesia, because Ketut Murtika says, not a single witness could
be found to testify against them.
MURTIKA: When we investigated these defendants, the witnesses seemed to have
their mouths locked. No one was willing to say who was behind the violence.
They weren't prepared to go any further than the regional commander.
MACGREGOR: There are calls this week for prosecutors to use Soares' statement
that he was not in charge of security affairs ahead of the self-determination
vote to build a new case against the top brass. But Ketut Murtika says they'd
need military officers to come forward with new evidence, a prospect that seems
unlikely.
MURTIKA: If there's sufficient evidence from the regional commander and his
subordinates pointing the finger at these people, suggesting they were involved
as planners, then of course we we would want to look again at this matter.
MACGREGOR: But critics still maintain the Jakarta trials are a farce, and they
say only a UN-sponsored international tribunal can deliver justice. Former
consul Jim Dunn has recommended to the UN chief Kofi Annan that such a tribunal
be set up. While Indonesia has strongly rejected what it says is an attack on
its sovereignty, Jim Dunn remains hopeful.
DUNN: It's not only important for justice in East Timor, it's also very
important for the Indonesian people, because they need to know what their
military commanders got up to. And if they do find that out, surely they will
take action to reform the military. And that action is absolutely necessary to
bring about the reform that the Indonesian democracy movement wants to
introduce.
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