Jakarta – The Catholic church in Indonesia on Thursday disassociated itself from a separatist group in the violence-torn Maluku islands.
"The Catholic Church, in this case represented by the Diocese of Amboina [Ambon], disapproves of any separatist movement or action in the Moluccas," a press release from the diocese received here said. "The Moluccan Protestant Church [GPM] has the same position," the release added, using the alternative spelling for the chain, also known as the Spice Islands.
The statement came in the wake of the arrest on Monday in Ambon of Alex Manuputty, the executive chairman of the Front for the Sovereignty of Maluku (FKM). Manuputty was arrested after activists of the movement briefly raised the FKM flag in Ambon on the anniversary of the movement on April 25, the anniversary of a 1950 proclamation of the South Maluku Republic. The flag, raised between the Indonesian flag and that of the United Nations, flew only briefly before it was hauled down by police.
The press release, from the crisis center of the Ambon diocese, also said the Dutch embassy in Jakarta had asked the center to air on its website a statement that The Hague did not support the movement.
"The ambassador asked us to inform the readers ... [that] the government of the Netherlands endorses uncurtailedly the territorial integrity of the Republic of Indonesia, and does in no way support or approve of any actions of separatism," it said. The statement was signed by C.J.Bohm, the secretary of the Ambon diocese crisis center.
The South Maluku Republic movement was banned by the country's first president Sukarno and its followers were allowed to either remain in Indonesia or leave the country for the Netherlands, Indonesia's former colonial power.
The movement has reappeared in Ambon following the drawn-out religious conflict there and in other islands in the Malukus which have seen intense fighting between Muslims and Christians for more than two years.
Fighting between Christians and Muslims first erupted in Ambon in January 1999 and spread rapidly to other islands in the Malukus. More than 4,000 people have been killed in the violence and up to 500,000 of the three million inhabitants have fled their homes for internal refugee camps or to other islands.
Some extremist Muslim radio stations in the islands which have sprung up since the conflict began, have painted the Christians there as separatists, their Internet websites say.