Vaudine England, Jayapura – A protest in the Irian Jayan port city of Sorong yesterday left six people dead, highlighting the spread of problems from the tortured Maluku Islands as thousands flee the communal conflict.
At least 4,000 people have perished in the Malukus, also known as the Spice Islands, as a result of fighting between Christians and Muslims.
On Wednesday, a ship from the Maluku capital of Ambon carrying 2,000 refugees arrived at Sorong, but didn't dock immediately because of an angry crowd which had gathered on the shore. Mostly Christian, the displaced people are seeking shelter with friends or relatives living in Irian Jaya amid a continuing absence of government help or concern.
The boat eventually docked, but violence broke out shortly after between police and men believed to be militias. It is understood the militias were trying to stop the boat from unloading, but there was also a dispute over tickets.
Reports from the area remain confused as to whether the fatalities were caused by uniformed police from the Mobile Brigade, or by unidentified men in plain clothes. If it is the latter, human rights sources say the incident supports growing fears that the diaspora from the Maluku Islands is being used by rogue military men to spread conflict further across Indonesia's troubled periphery.
The vessel is due to sail for Ambon on Monday, but port officials in Sorong decided yesterday it would be unsafe to disembark passengers at Ambon.
The latest arrival brings the total number of such "refugees" in Irian to about 18,000, reinforcing fears that the destabilisation, which has reduced Ambon and other Maluku cities to rubble, could soon infect Irian Jaya. "I am worried that if more refugees are coming here, then the same problems will come too," said Chris Mailoa, head of the recently-formed Association for Maluku People in Irian Jaya. "We are very scared about it. You know how easy it is for some provocateurs to be among those refugees, and who knows where it will stop?" he said from his home in Abepura, near Jayapura, which is becoming a headquarters for relief work for the refugees.
Recent calls from local and foreign church groups for international intervention in the Malukus are echoed by anyone associated with the crisis. Mr Mailoa believes such help is needed not only for people still in the islands, but to forestall the export of the trouble elsewhere in Indonesia. "We need international help," said Mr Mailoa. "We need donations of food and money. We need troops from abroad to separate the fighters. We need it now."
Indonesia University sociologist, Dr Imam B. Prasodjo, agrees that as the Malukan conflict snowballs, it could trigger a domino effect in other islands. "The domino effect may start with the refugees. They could consolidate during evacuation, then go home to pick up a fight again," he told the Indonesian newspaper Kompas. "If this conflict spreads to West Papua [Irian Jaya] then [non-Papuan] settlers would evacuate. But, they might nourish a grudge since they have been there for generations.
"Because the majority of the population [in Irian Jaya] are mainly Christians and settlers are mainly Muslims, another sectarian conflict might be in the making," he said. Initial reports from Sorong had described the disturbance as an attempt by Papuans to raise their Morning Star independence flag, which apparently caused policemen to shoot two men dead.
Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has verbally assured Papuans they may raise their flag until later in August, but local police have frequently been unwilling to follow this policy. Human rights researchers say that although such incidents have occurred recently, causing deaths and injuries in several locations around Irian Jaya, the latest trouble in Sorong has more complex beginnings and is indicative of the tinderbox of troubles now afflicting Indonesia's easternmost province.