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Maluku remains calm following RMS anniversary

Jakarta Post - April 27, 2003

Jakarta – The situation in Maluku is calm following the separatist South Maluku Republic (RMS)'s 53rd anniversary on Friday, which saw the arrest of more than 300 supporters of the outlawed group.

It was business as usual on Saturday in traditional markets and shopping centers, including those in Ambon, the provincial capital, and Central Maluku, a stronghold of the RMS. Students attended classes as normal, though troops and police officers were deployed in strategic areas of Ambon.

Three more RMS flags were seized on Saturday by security authorities in the villages of Karang Panjang, Nania and Halong Baru in Ambon municipality. The flags had been hung on trees by RMS supporters.

Security authorities arrested about 300 people on Friday, mostly from Aboru in Central Maluku, for raising RMS flags and holding gatherings to mark the RMS' anniversary. Those arrested will be given the opportunity to renounce their support for the RMS. Those who refuse to do so could face charges of subversion and holding illegal meetings.

Police in Ambon are having difficulty finding room for the 300 detainees. Ambon Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Teguh Budi Prasojo said the detention block at the police station was unable to accommodate the nearly 250 detainees from Central Maluku.

"Some of the detainees will be put in the detention house at the local military base because the police only have four detention cells," he said.

Maluku Governor Sinyo Harry Sarundajang said his administration would investigate the detainees to determine who among them were true separatists. "It is possible that some of the detainees are not actually RMS supporters, but are only disappointed with the government for other reasons," he said. He said that many residents of the village of Aboru were dissatisfied with the government for its failure to build roads and other facilities in their village.

Sarundajang promised to try and satisfy the villagers' demand for improved infrastructure, and asked the police and the military to help develop the road network in the regency.