Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Unlike its aggressive attempts to crush separatist rebels in Aceh, the Indonesian government has been half-hearted in ending the equally alarming sectarian conflict in Maluku.
Ironically, inaction in the province – which has witnessed bloody clashes between Muslim and Christian extremists despite a peace accord in February – had reignited the separatist movement there, said analysts. "Aceh is taken seriously by the government but the Malukus are not," a Western diplomat said.
The government's differing stance is explained by the fact that Aceh militants demanding independence are perceived as far more threatening than the religious militants who merely threaten civilian lives, according to the observers.
Police in the Malukus have been reluctant to heed calls from both the central government and the Malukus' governor to arrest the leaders of militant groups, such as the Laskar Jihad, which have been active there.
But in Aceh, the military and mobile police have been aggressively launching operations against the armed separatists since President Megawati Sukarnoputri authorised a new military operation last year.
Jakarta was ignoring the Malukus at its own peril, said the Western diplomat. "The joke is that now the government's lack of action over the violence in Maluku has re-created the separatist movement. RMS was refounded in November 2000 after the arrival of Laskar Jihad," he said, referring to the Republic of South Maluku Movement (RMS).
RMS was an independence movement formed in the 1950s, but most of its members fled to the Netherlands when it failed. It had not been heard from again until 2000. Another independence movement, the Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM), has also sprung up.
The military had shown little urgency in solving the conflict because it was not their responsibility, said Moluccan sociologist Tamrin Tomagola.
The military had appeared more committed to ending the conflict, said observers, after a revamp placed a military commander – rather than police – at the helm of the security operations.
Curiously, the presence of the Laskar Jihad is now an impetus for a crackdown on the RMS after Vice-President Hamzah Haz suggested that the religious fundamentalists could not be expelled from the province until the separatists had been thrown out as well.
"The separatist element has given the security forces a good excuse to crack down on Laskar Jihad," said the diplomat. Also, RMS has minimal local support, which makes it an easier target.
Other observers noted that top Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had begun to take action to end the three-year-old conflict in the Malukus. Along with Welfare Minister Yusuf Kalla, he promised that the February peace accord would bring peace.