Eastern Indonesia: Violence Increases After

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 012100

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FROM AMCONSUL SURABAYA 2517

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TAGS: PGOV PHUM KJUS KCRM ID
SUBJECT: Eastern Indonesia: Violence Increases After
Poso 3 Executions

Ref: A. JAKARTA 4365

B. JAKARTA 11799


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The execution of the "Poso 3" on
September 22 was immediately followed by an outbreak of
violence in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) (Flores and West
Timor) and later in Central Sulawesi, where the
executions occurred. The reaction was not unexpected
by local officials; police in NTT had told Principal
Officer in August their top security concern was the
potential for trouble once the executions went forward
and the Central Sulawesi police chief had called for
5,000 additional officers to support security for the
executions. Violence in Poso and Tentena has surged in
the past few days as the already tense situation
worsened with several small attacks provoking larger
ones, resulting in a large-scale police redeployment in
the area. Social factors which fed the NTT outburst
are local Catholic residents' feelings of
discrimination and neglect by the Muslim Javanese
central government, moral opposition to the death
penalty by local and international religious leaders
and international NGOs and the sense that the Poso 3,
originating from NTT, were being picked on since there
were many additional people culpable for the violence
that will never be prosecuted. The NTT violence was
also a reaction of simmering tensions and unhappiness
with government policies on internally displaced
persons in NTT and the all too usual groups of
provocateurs who seem to never miss an opportunity to
advance their own agendas through violence. End
Summary.

Central Sulawesi - Violent Reaction Picking Up Steam
-------------- --------------


2. (SBU) Initial reaction in Central Sulawesi was
emotionally charged but muted due to the heavy security
provided by police and military personnel (see ref B).
Police were withdrawn from Tentena and Poso late in the
day of the executions as the situation was calm. The
bodies of Tibo and Riwu were airlifted to Morowali,
Central Sulawesi, where they were greeted by a mob of
several thousand mourners and buried in separate
ceremonies 40 kilometers apart. Police maintained a
heavy presence in the Morowali area and no violence
started during or after the funerals. ConGen contacts
say that the situation in Poso and Tentena remained
tense but calm after the executions.


3. (SBU) There have been several recent reports of
escalating violence in Poso and Tentena since the
executions. According to Darlis Muhammad, a journalist
for Tempo, a car traveling from Makassar to Tentena was
found in Taripa, a predominantly Christian village 20
miles from Tentena, with its two Muslim passengers
missing on September 23. The Central Sulawesi police
Chief Badrodin Haiti arrived in Taripa on September 28
to investigate the disappearances. A crowd of 5,000
attending a traditional local harvest festival rushed
his helicopter. Fearing the worst, the 30 mobile
brigade police assigned to protect Haiti "brutally"
repelled the surging residents using batons and gun
butts. Haiti ended up fleeing on the back of a
motorcycle as his helicopter was rendered inoperable by
the crowd. The crowd, angered by the response, burned
the local police station and three of its vehicles.
The crowd also killed a police dog during the attack
and ate it, apparently intending to offend local Muslim
police officers.


4. (SBU) Early September 30, newspapers reported three
separate small bombs were detonated in Poso City, one
near a church, causing no injuries or damage. A few
hours later, police and military officers defused a
potentially dangerous situation when two angry mobs of
several hundred men from neighboring Poso villages, one
Christian and one Muslim, faced off ready to fight. On
October 1, ConGen contacts in Poso said a group of
several dozen masked assailants in a predominantly
Muslim area of Poso City blockaded a road with a
burning motorcycle and attacked five passengers on a
public transport. A Christian woman reportedly died
from stab wounds suffered in the attack. In a separate

JAKARTA 00012100 002 OF 003


incident the same day, a Poso City police substation
was burned by a group of people. Banjela Paliuju,
governor of Central Sulawesi, held an emergency meeting
of local political and religious leaders in Poso City
on October 1 to appeal for patience and calm to avoid
further violence.


5. (SBU) 5,000 mobile brigade police have been
redeployed in Poso in a show of force to try to avoid
further violence. According to Darwis Waru, head of
the Poso Conflict Resolution Working Group, local
political and religious leaders are of divided opinions
as to whether the massive police presence will diffuse
or exacerbate the security situation. Local residents
fear a return to the violence of the recent past and
deeply distrust the police, as they are seen to be a
causal force in the past violence. Local leaders hope
to limit the time large numbers of police are
patrolling Poso streets in an effort to limit their
contact with the public.

Initial Violence in Flores - Situation Now Calm
-------------- --


6. (SBU) Reaction in Flores, home of Domingus Da Silva,
was initially peaceful, if emotional. However,
violence broke out later September 22 following the
execution, when approximately 3,000 people in Maumere
rioted and destroyed the local parliament building, the
local prosecutor's office, and burnt down the district
Court building. The violence seemed to be sparked by
the news that Da Silva had been hastily buried in Palu
rather than returned to Flores for a "proper" burial.
Police have arrested three people they believe
instigated the riots, including activists from the
Indonesian Catholic Student Association (PMKRI). The
Chairman of the PMKRI Presidium in Jakarta was unhappy
about the involvement of the local organization, noting
that he believes there are many radical Christian and
Muslim "interest" groups who would like to see NTT
become another Poso.


7. (SBU) The night after the executions, Da Silva's
family forcibly exhumed his coffin from the cemetery in
Palu and brought it to Santa Maria Church where local
supporters prayed and held vigil until his body was
flown on a domestic commercial flight to Maumere,
Flores on September 24. Dozens of military personnel
and police officers guarded the Palu airport during
transit of the body. There were no reports of violence
in Palu. In Maumere, Da Silva's body was taken to
Santo Yosef Cathedral where thousands of wailing
mourners joined a mass prayer for the deceased led by
father Fransciscus Pao of the Maumere Diocese, after
which Da Silva was buried in his home village of
Waikodo. Our contacts report that all major Maumere
leaders, including Sikka regent Alex Longginus, Maumere
Police Chief Adjunct Senior Commissioner Endang
Syafrudin and Frans Seda, former Minister of Finance
during the Suharto administration, attended the
funeral.

A Strong Reaction in West Timor
--------------


8. (SBU) The greatest violence occurred in Kefamenanu
in central West Timor and Atambua in the northern West
Timor, near the border with East Timor, on the day of
the excecution (see ref B). On the surface, these
cities would not be likely locations for such strong
emotions on the Poso 3 case. According to ConGen
contacts, opposition to the executions was the spark
but the existing social stresses created the tinderbox.
These areas are suffering from lingering drought,
growing poverty, and other stresses exacerbated by the
ten thousand internally displaced persons (IDPs) from
East Timor, many of whom have resisted resettlement and
are still living in camps (see 05 Jakarta 15889). In
addition, contacts indicate that the rioting in these
areas was worsened by large numbers of East Timorese
IDPs leaving their camps and entering Atambua
specifically to add to the chaos. NTT police,
augmented by Mobile Brigade reinforcements sent from
Bali, have arrested at least five people believed to be

JAKARTA 00012100 003 OF 003


the instigators of the violence.

The Death Penalty and Justice
--------------


9. (SBU) Opposition to the death penalty by Indonesian
and foreign Catholics (and some Protestants) as well as
by human rights NGOs and their intense lobbying of the
Indonesian government was a factor in the controversy
surrounding these executions. (Note: Expatriate
priests still exert strong influence over Catholics in
NTT, especially in Flores.) Many NTT residents believe
that the executions were previously postponed as a
response to appeals by Pope Benedict XVI and the
Bishop's conference of Indonesia. Other strong appeals
were made by the EU, several individual European
nations, and NGOs such as Amnesty International.
Central Sulawesi contacts contradict that notion,
claiming that former Central Sulawesi police chief
Oegroseno was unprepared to carry out the executions
last August as scheduled.


10. (SBU) During recent visits to NTT, ConGen Surabaya
officers heard from all levels of contacts the common
belief that as NTT natives, the three did not receive
justice. When probed to articulate where the justice
system failed, we heard several theories. They
included the three were guilty but were scapegoats for
more influential protestant culprits from Central
Sulawesi (evidenced by the lack of other convictions);
the three were guilty but should not be given the death
penalty, in light of the less severe sentences given to
Muslims for other "similar" crimes; and they must be
innocent as a NTT native and/or Christian can not
receive a fair trial in Indonesia. Strangely, few of
our contacts argued that the three were innocent
because they did not participate in the 2000 massacres.
Some of the more popular banners in Maumere included:
"Where are the masterminds of Poso?" "Don't make Tibo
and his friends the scapegoats" and "Don't oppress
people for the sake of certain interest groups."

HEFFERN