Jakarta – After more than two weeks of investigation directly following the unrest, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has concluded that the January 19- 23 Ambon riots were, as widely suspected, engineered.
"The facts after the riot showed the activities of several non-local political interests. It could be predicted from the pamphlets and documents that were distributed amongst the people with such issues that incited religious conflict," said Kontras' coordinator Munir in Jakarta yesterday.
He continued, the making of the riots was exploited by Ambon's inter-religious conflicts which happen there almost every year. "The conflicts usually don't take a long time. They could always handle and finish the conflicts by themselves peacefully," said Munir, citing the events of March 3, 1995, and February 21, 1996, which were soon snuffed out.
"The engineer seemed like he knew this situation very well and made this vulnerable issue the trigger to a bigger and broader riot," Munir said, refuting the government explanation that the unrest was sparked by fighting between a public vehicle driver and a thug.
"The riots were triggered by grudges which were built upon since December in telephone threats and deployed pamphlets. The pamphlets said that religious followers would be attacked by followers of another religious group," Munir revealed.
On the riots, Munir said that strange occurrences were evident. Eyewitnesses said a number of rioters, suspected as provocateurs, yelled strange expressions which were not popularly used in Ambon. "Not to mention that they also cursed such names as the People's Democratic Party (PRD), Ratna Sarumpaet and Amien Rais. I think whoever the engineer is, he wanted to use the riots to discredit those names and to give advantages to a certain political elite in Jakarta," Munir said.
Munir noted much unusual behavior in Kontras' investigation into the Ambon riots – the mobilization of strangers before the riot, pamphlet messages, people with guns, and walkie-talkies (HTs) and cellular phones were used during the riots.
"We knew strangers were involved and used in both sides of the conflicting parties. Eyewitnesses also said they saw people armed with pistols and sometimes communicating with others by HT or cellular phones in the middle of the carnage," Munir explained.
Concerning the inflammatory message in the pamphlets he said, "The pamphlet itself was so wrong. The message was written in an Arabic font and was incorrectly translated into English".
With reference to the location, the facts conclusively showed that the riots were well organized. "Starting from the build-up of prior conditions, the use of potential local conflict and provocateurs who used sophisticated communication instruments and guns, it proves that the mastermind was really determined to make the riots an unqualified success," Munir said
Munir also noted many instances of unusual treatment by the armed forces who were supposed to secure the situation and guarantee the safety of both sides after the riots. "They carried out a lot of stupid acts and were also slow in their action in Ambon, just like previous riots in Java," he said.
He cited an example that happened on February 14. At about 3.00am electricity in Kariu village went out. Thirty minutes later a house located between the villages of Kariu and Kailolo suddenly burned down. The police who were guarding the darkened Kariu village then opened fire with their guns and made the citizens of both villages believe they were under attack. "This action, with or without purpose, was very dangerous and could have caused further riots," Munir stressed.
On last Sunday's Haruku riots, Munir suggested it was an example of the security forces' ineptitude in handling the riot which had only created more victims.
"From twelve casualties, ten of them died by live bullets, one by poisoned arrow and one was burned. The casualties were caused more by the apparatus than the riot itself," said Munir.