January 17, 2000. Copyright 1999. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

INDONESIAÕS SEPARATISTS

LONDON, January 17, Graphic News: INDONESIAN Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri will visit the Moluccas and President Abdurrahman Wahid will travel to Aceh later this month to try to calm tension in two of the countryÕs flashpoint provinces.

Violence between Christians and Muslims in the Moluccas, IndonesiaÕs once-idyllic Spice Islands, erupted in the provincial capital of Ambon in early 1999 and has claimed  more than 1,500 lives in the past year. MegawatiÕs planned visit on January 24 comes after an upsurge in violence in which 771 people have died since Christmas.

On Friday the military announced 600 soldiers from an airborne unit of the Kostrad strategic reserve and an infantry unit would fly to the Moluccas to help bring them under control.

Thousands of extra soldiers have already been sent to the islands, home to about two million people and spread across 33,000 square miles (86,000 square kilometres).

Wahid Ð a moderate Muslim scholar Ð also faces mounting separatist pressure in Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra and Irian Jaya on the countryÕs eastern flank.

Facing criticism for not visiting Aceh since he was elected president in October, Wahid has vowed to deal sternly with ÒprovocateursÓ he blames for stirring up bloody religious and separatist tension.

ÒWe are running out of patience. We will show these people that we can be hard on anyone trying to break this country apart,Ó Wahid told a rally on Friday.

Indonesia is a patchwork of islands, religions and ethnic groups and many fear that if Aceh, with its population of 3.76 million, were to claim independence it could trigger the countryÕs disintegration.

Aceh is one of the richest provinces in Indonesia in terms of natural resources, producing 12 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) a year Ð a third of IndonesiaÕs total LNG exports. Aceh also boasts deposits of oil, gold and silver, and exports fertilizer, pepper, rubber and timber.

Many Acehnese accuse Jakarta of years of plundering AcehÕs natural resources and giving little in return.

Last yearÕs independence referendum in East Timor has fuelled demands for a similar referendum in Aceh but Wahid has ruled out total independence for the province.

IndonesiaÕs easternmost province, Irian Jaya, is also demanding independence and plans to set up a congress later this year to map out a strategy and pick a leader..

Separatist leader Thom Beanal hopes they can achieve independence through dialogue with Jakarta but fears that freedom may have as bloody a price as in East Timor.

ÒI am a bit scared. If the military is hard the people will be hard, but they will not kill the military. They will kill Javanese migrants because they donÕt have weapons.Ó

Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Javanese have been relocated to Irian Jaya Ð under a government-backed transmigration programme Ð since it joined Indonesia under a controversial U.N. deal in 1963.

During a Millennium visit President Wahid made a bid to redress past abuses. He proposed renaming the province with the indigenous name Papua and has offered the province wide-ranging autonomy as well as a larger share of revenues generated locally from the hugely profitable Freetown copper and gold mine. But Wahid warned that any attempts to break away from Indonesia would not be tolerated.

/ENDS
Sources: The Economist, Reuters