THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF VIOLENCE IN MALUKU

By George J. Aditjondro

​March 15, 2000

Since the forced withdrawal of the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) from East Timor, and with the TNI's "dual function" (its integration into Indonesia's political structures) being more openly challenged, old methods of instigating so-called "horizontal conflicts" have been revived by the forces opposed to Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati Sukarnoputri's leadership.

For more than a year, the people of the Maluku islands have been embroiled in a "civil war" between Muslims and Christians. Fatalities have been in the thousands, a high percentage for the islands' population of 2 million.
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The chain of sectarian conflict in Maluku, which has spread to Sulawesi, Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara and Java, has been triggered and fed by provocateurs paid by the former president Suharto's family and several of his cronies, according to allegations by Thamrin Amal Tomagola, a Moluccan sociologist at the University of Indonesia's Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, two human rights organisations, Kontras (Commission for Missing People and Victims of Violent Acts) and Komnas HAM (Indonesian Human Rights Commission), and various reports published by members of the Indonesian Independent Journalists Association (AJI).
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Two names most often mentioned are Yorris Raweyai and Brigadier General Kivlan Zein. Yorris Raweyai is the deputy chair of the Pancasila Youth and is close to Bambang Trihatmodjo, the second son of Suharto. Brigadier General Kivlan Zein has allegedly taken over the role of ex-general Prabowo Subianto, Suharto's son-in-law, in directing a group of vigilantes — drop-outs from the Indonesian Military Academy and martial art practitioners from West Java — recruited by the Indonesian army's special forces, Kopassus, when it was commanded by Prabowo. Because the military academy is located near Mount Tidar, Central Java, these "private soldiers'" of the Suharto family are called the "Tidar Boys".

Civilian links

​Yorris Raweyai, reportedly in collaboration with Yapto Suryosumarno, chair of the Pancasila Youth and a relative of the Suharto family, has been involved in inciting ethnic conflicts in other provinces. In West Kalimantan, Malay and Dayak ethnic groups, who last year were comrades in arms against Madurese migrants, are beginning to wage a bloody conflict against each other.

In Ambon, the provocateurs incited local Christian and Muslim gangs of young delinquents to spark conflict. The Christian gang is named Cowok Keren (the "Handsome Boys"), shortened to Coker, and is based in the Kudamati neighbourhood. They are connected to two Christian Moluccan youths, Milton Matuanakota and Ongky Pieters, in Jakarta. This Jakarta gang of Christian Moluccan youths dominate the shopping centre, parking area and gambling dens in West Jakarta. After the Ketapang incidents in Jakarta in November, 1998, in which four of Ambon's young men died, hundreds of Milton and Ongky's followers moved to Ambon.

In Jakarta, the antagonists of the Milton and Ongky group are represented by Ongen Sangaji, a Pancasila Youth activist and coordinator of a Moluccan Muslim university student organisation. Many members of this group were recruited into the PAM Swakarsa (civilian security troops) used by then armed forces chief, General Wiranto, to cordon off the parliament building from university students protesting at the extraordinary session of the People's Consultative Assembly in November l998.
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Ongen is reported to have close ties to Bambang Trihatmodjo, while Milton is said to be closer to Suharto's daughter, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, aka Tutut. Other reports state that Ongen received funds from Tutut and a retired general close to the Suharto family, Abdul Gafur, who hails from North Maluku. Unfortunately for them, four of Ongen's Moluccan youth died in the battle between the students and the vigilantes.

Tutut and Gafur's foundation, Yayasan Kesejahteraan Masyarakat Indonesia (Yakmi), mobilised 10,000 PAM Swakarsa troops armed with sharp bamboo spears to fight against the unarmed students near the Semanggi bridge near Senayan. Those vigilantes were first trained in military discipline and skills at the Jakarta military headquarters, Rindam Jaya, and by the Tidar Boys. Ten Yakmi vigilantes who hailed from Cianjur, West Java, were allegedly arrested in Ambon for involvement in the unrest.

Military links

​The bloody conflict in Maluku also involves active military personnel, who can be traced back to generals closely linked to former minister of defence and TNI chief General Wiranto. He was recently sacked from his cabinet post by President Wahid.

On January 15, three members of the armed forces were apprehended in a raid in Ambon. One of them was a member of Kopassus, and two were police. They were not the only "armed forces elements" involved in the Maluku unrest.

In early December, after President Wahid and vice-president Sukarnoputri's visit to Ambon, the military commander sent 500 troops to the area. Only some 200 troops reached the barracks, while 300 sent on the same ship disappeared with their weapons into the civilian population. Not long after, the "massacres" erupted. The same type of weapons as those carried by the missing troops were found in the hands of civilians.

During the first months of the conflict, army troops from the Wirabuana command in Makassar, Sulawesi, and Kostrad (Army Strategic Command) troops sent from Java, openly sided with Moluccan Muslims. They simply watched when the symbolic old Silo church in Ambon was attacked and burned.

The Wirabuana commander at that time, General Suaidi Marasabessy, as well as the Kostrad commander General Djadja Suparman were supporters of Wiranto. Both have since been removed.

On the other hand, the police special forces, Brimob, who are mostly Christian Moluccans, have sided with the Christians.

Whenever there was a temporary peace, snipers continued to create victims on both sides to reignite the conflict.
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The military have benefited from the conflict. It has helped those in the top military hierarchy who want to maintain the military's territorial system. Using the conflict as an excuse, the Pattimura command in Ambon, which had been abolished during the Suharto era, has now been revived. About 17,000 troops are currently stationed in Maluku.

Funding the conflict

Apart from the Suharto family, which funds the Tidar Boys and the Yakmi vigilantes, the "Maluku operation" is allegedly also being funded by two Suharto cronies with business interests in Maluku, Eka Tjipta Widjaja and Prajogo Pangestu.

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