INDONESIA
Spite Islands
12/01/00
550
JUSUF ELY, MUSLIM COMMUNITY LEADER: Why the government let the people here kill each other? Muslim kill Christian, Christian kill Muslim.Is that the political will?Then, all Ambon people was killed?
REVEREND SAMMY TITALEY, MODERATOR PROTESTANT CHURCH: What happened now, let us say -- very sad.But we hope that tomorrow is better than today, must be better than today.
MARK BOWLING: Even getting to Ambon City is now difficult and dangerous.The safest way to enter is by boat -- across a harbour which was once eastern Indonesia's busiest.Now a military escort is needed to guard against sniper attacks from other vessels.Troops are now heavy on the ground in Ambon.But there's little left to defend along the main shopping street.This is now a dangerous no-man's-land, the dividing line between Ambon's Christian and Muslim-controlled sectors.On both sides, this is how many families now live.A year of violence has left tens of thousands hardened and homeless.
In this Muslim camp, gangs of boys pose with their weapons.One, who is just 10 years old, described how he had killed a policeman.Most people here don't know where they will end up.
TRANSLATION OF MINJA: Because we don't have a house anymore.It was destroyed, we can't go back.
MARK BOWLING: Ambon's tragedy is baffling.Muslim leader Jusuf Ely wonders how the city's roughly equal numbers of Muslims and Christians could be locked in such a bloody struggle.He blames shadowy forces, perhaps rogue elements in the armed forces, gangsters, even politicians in Jakarta, exploiting existing religious tensions.
JUSUF ELY, MUSLIM COMMUNITY LEADER: Give the authority to the military to stop the riots.Catch all the provocateurs, bring them to the court and give them hard punishments.BOY: (Shouts) Islam never die!
MARK BOWLING: Mass rallies by Muslims across Indonesia.Militant calls for a jihad, or holy war, are warnings of trouble ahead.When Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid visited Ambon last month, he urged Ambon's religious and community leaders to solve their own conflict.
But since then, there's been no dialogue.Conflict has escalated and spread rapidly to neighbouring islands.As many people have died in the last two weeks of clashes as in the last year.On the Christian side of Ambon, Father John Ruhulesin braves the barricades and bullets to reach his flock.Those in his parish include the not so holy -- gangsters known as 'chok-ai' or the "cool boys" who admit to being a major force in the war against the Muslims.But he defends them.
FATHER JOHN RUHULESIN, PROTESTANT CHURCH: They are part of the congregation.As a priest, I must take responsibility of them.All priests must recognise that they are part of the congregation.(Leads prayer)
MARK BOWLING: The prayers are for reconciliation, not revenge.But in this strange war where both sides paint themselves as innocent victims, is the church backing an armed struggle?
FATHER JOHN RUHULESIN: No, they never attack first.Right?Until now, they never attack.
MARK BOWLING: They just defend the Christians against Muslim attacks?
FATHER JOHN RUHULESIN: Yes.
REVEREND SAMMY TITALEY, MODERATOR PROTESTANT CHURCH: But if we were attacked, what shall we do?You have to make a defence, of course.MARK BOWLING: Troops are on a mission to seize all weapons which they attempt to do by searching every last dwelling.But it's a near impossible task.Once the soldiers have gone, hidden guns are easily dug up.These home-made rifles are made ready for the next battle.The fighters and fanatics on both Christian and Muslim sides appear locked in a violent struggle, the likes of which Indonesia hasn't seen since the conflict which prompted the United Nations to intervene in East Timor.And yet there's been hardly an international ripple about the destruction and the ongoing dislocation of lives.Christian leaders have called for UN peacekeepers.That's been rejected outright by Jakarta.Muslim leaders still put their faith in the Indonesian Government and armed forces.
JUSUF ELY: I trust my own military and I trust and I believe this Indonesian military can stop it all.No need for United Nations.Ambon is not Timor Timor.
REVEREND SAMMY TITALEY: The government or the military cannot stop this riot.Only one way is ask for the international intervention and they, of course, must be neutral and maybe with them, we can stop this riot.
Spite Islands
12/01/00
550
JUSUF ELY, MUSLIM COMMUNITY LEADER: Why the government let the people here kill each other? Muslim kill Christian, Christian kill Muslim.Is that the political will?Then, all Ambon people was killed?
REVEREND SAMMY TITALEY, MODERATOR PROTESTANT CHURCH: What happened now, let us say -- very sad.But we hope that tomorrow is better than today, must be better than today.
MARK BOWLING: Even getting to Ambon City is now difficult and dangerous.The safest way to enter is by boat -- across a harbour which was once eastern Indonesia's busiest.Now a military escort is needed to guard against sniper attacks from other vessels.Troops are now heavy on the ground in Ambon.But there's little left to defend along the main shopping street.This is now a dangerous no-man's-land, the dividing line between Ambon's Christian and Muslim-controlled sectors.On both sides, this is how many families now live.A year of violence has left tens of thousands hardened and homeless.
In this Muslim camp, gangs of boys pose with their weapons.One, who is just 10 years old, described how he had killed a policeman.Most people here don't know where they will end up.
TRANSLATION OF MINJA: Because we don't have a house anymore.It was destroyed, we can't go back.
MARK BOWLING: Ambon's tragedy is baffling.Muslim leader Jusuf Ely wonders how the city's roughly equal numbers of Muslims and Christians could be locked in such a bloody struggle.He blames shadowy forces, perhaps rogue elements in the armed forces, gangsters, even politicians in Jakarta, exploiting existing religious tensions.
JUSUF ELY, MUSLIM COMMUNITY LEADER: Give the authority to the military to stop the riots.Catch all the provocateurs, bring them to the court and give them hard punishments.BOY: (Shouts) Islam never die!
MARK BOWLING: Mass rallies by Muslims across Indonesia.Militant calls for a jihad, or holy war, are warnings of trouble ahead.When Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid visited Ambon last month, he urged Ambon's religious and community leaders to solve their own conflict.
But since then, there's been no dialogue.Conflict has escalated and spread rapidly to neighbouring islands.As many people have died in the last two weeks of clashes as in the last year.On the Christian side of Ambon, Father John Ruhulesin braves the barricades and bullets to reach his flock.Those in his parish include the not so holy -- gangsters known as 'chok-ai' or the "cool boys" who admit to being a major force in the war against the Muslims.But he defends them.
FATHER JOHN RUHULESIN, PROTESTANT CHURCH: They are part of the congregation.As a priest, I must take responsibility of them.All priests must recognise that they are part of the congregation.(Leads prayer)
MARK BOWLING: The prayers are for reconciliation, not revenge.But in this strange war where both sides paint themselves as innocent victims, is the church backing an armed struggle?
FATHER JOHN RUHULESIN: No, they never attack first.Right?Until now, they never attack.
MARK BOWLING: They just defend the Christians against Muslim attacks?
FATHER JOHN RUHULESIN: Yes.
REVEREND SAMMY TITALEY, MODERATOR PROTESTANT CHURCH: But if we were attacked, what shall we do?You have to make a defence, of course.MARK BOWLING: Troops are on a mission to seize all weapons which they attempt to do by searching every last dwelling.But it's a near impossible task.Once the soldiers have gone, hidden guns are easily dug up.These home-made rifles are made ready for the next battle.The fighters and fanatics on both Christian and Muslim sides appear locked in a violent struggle, the likes of which Indonesia hasn't seen since the conflict which prompted the United Nations to intervene in East Timor.And yet there's been hardly an international ripple about the destruction and the ongoing dislocation of lives.Christian leaders have called for UN peacekeepers.That's been rejected outright by Jakarta.Muslim leaders still put their faith in the Indonesian Government and armed forces.
JUSUF ELY: I trust my own military and I trust and I believe this Indonesian military can stop it all.No need for United Nations.Ambon is not Timor Timor.
REVEREND SAMMY TITALEY: The government or the military cannot stop this riot.Only one way is ask for the international intervention and they, of course, must be neutral and maybe with them, we can stop this riot.