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Questions Linger as Ambon Exhales
Nivell Rayda & Antara | September 15, 2011

Indonesian Army members patrol in the streets after sectarian clashes in the city of Ambon on Wednesday.The government has sent military personnel and police reinforcements to the eastern city of Ambon after communal clashes left at least three people dead and many injured. (EPA Photo) Indonesian Army members patrol in the streets after sectarian clashes in the city of Ambon on Wednesday.The government has sent military personnel and police reinforcements to the eastern city of Ambon after communal clashes left at least three people dead and many injured. (EPA Photo)
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As the people of Ambon try to resume normal life just days after deadly riots rocked their city, the displaced are picking up the pieces and police are looking for answers.

The National Police Detective Unit has dispatched senior officer Brig. Gen Roni Sompi to help a team investigating the clashes that left seven people dead, Chief of Detectives Comr. Gen Sutarman said on Wednesday.

They know the accidental death of a motorcycle taxi driver named Darmin was widely characterized as a murder. It’s no mystery that a text message spread the inflammatory rumor.

What investigators don’t know yet is who sent it, or why. With Ambon’s tumultuous history, the why may prove a complicated question.

Unrest first flared up in the 1950s, when the South Maluku Republic fought for independence. It resurfaced from 1999 to 2002 in the form of sectarian conflicts between indigenous people and migrants as well as Muslims and Christians.

“The three [problems] have now intertwined,” said Andreas Harsono, an Indonesian consultant for Human Rights Watch.

He added that the current segregation of ethnic and religious groups in Ambon had helped fuel the recent violence.

Nearly 1,000 families in the Ambon area have been displaced. Temporary shelters have been set up in public offices, schools, houses of worship, the Navy base in Halong and some private homes in the subdistricts of Nusaniwe, Sirimau and Baguala.

Some of those taking refuge in the shelters were not actually displaced, Maluku Vice Governor Said Assagaff said — just fearful.

“There are also residents who do not feel safe because of the trauma from the social conflict in 1999,” he said.

Most of the displaced — 2,283 individuals — came from Nusaniwe. There were 1,254 people from Sirimau taking shelter while 761 came from Baguala.

Business activities were returning to normal on Wednesday. At the governor’s and municipal offices, people were starting to show up for work.

“Today, about 50 percent of the civil servants were present at their offices. I hope that tomorrow their attendance will be 100 percent,” Assagaff said.

In Jakarta, police at the Tanjung Priok harbor were conducting checks of passengers and vehicles boarding boats heading to Ambon and eastern Indonesia, said Adj. Sr. Comr. Asep Safrudin, who heads the port’s police.

His chief of detectives, Adj Comr. Jerry Siagian, said they were searching for “firearms and knives” to help prevent further unrest, but so far the operation had not netted any weapons.