SEVEN WEEKS after the wave of sectarian violence began on Ambon, influential military commanders in Jakarta have virtually conceded the failure of mediation by declaring the only way to end the bloodshed might be the creation of Christian and Muslim zones.

In a glaring admission of the armed forces' inability to control the violence, one of Jakarta's most senior and respected officers, Lieutenant General Agum Gumelar, told a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday that troops would have to keep the two sides apart physically.

A high priority for the military leadership now is to prevent the spread of religious conflict to other provinces, as Muslim groups become more vocal in condemning the actions of security forces and warn of reprisals.

Armed forces commander General Wiranto has tried to placate rising anger at the continuing violence — in particular, the shooting of Muslims by troops — by sacking the Ambon police chief, Colonel Karyono Sumodinoto.

The announcement of Colonel Karyono's dismissal coincided with rallies across the country by Muslim youths warning of religious war.

General Wiranto has also pulled out units sent earlier from Sulawesi to defuse claims by Christians in Maluku province that these soldiers were siding with their own people — Muslim Bugis, Buton and Makassar migrants.

The withdrawn units are being replaced by 3000 combat troops from Java, who go to the eastern Indonesian island with a reminder from General Wiranto of his earlier shoot-on-sight order.

But speaking to the press before a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, General Wiranto revealed the great dilemma the armed forces faced in re-establishing order.

He qualifies the threat to shoot by saying the aim is to "paralyse and not kill" and restore peace without treading on civil rights.

General Gumelar, the head of the National Defence Institute (Lemhanas), and the secretary-general of the National Defence and Security Council, Lieutenant General Arifin Tarigan, have stressed the need to separate the Muslim and Christian communities.

"In the short-term at least, separation of the Muslims and Christians has to be effected. The armed forces are expected to stand in the middle of the two conflicting groups and play a mediatory role," General Gumelar was quoted by the Jakarta Post as telling a parliamentary commission hearing.

Although Ambon and surrounding islands have many exclusive Christian and Muslim neighbourhoods and villages, the two communities have mixed easily and practised their religions literally side by side in the past.

The Government is attempting to play down the religious dimensions of the conflict by pointing to economic disparities, between Muslim settlers from Sulawesi and the local people, as the cause of recent emnities.

"The (Bugis, Buton and Makassar) groups of the population are economically better off than the locals," the State news agency Antara quoted Information Minister Yunus Yosfiah as saying after a Cabinet meeting on security.

He said President B.J. Habibie also blamed Christian and Muslim radicals..

"This is a time when violence is not strength,
compassion is not weakness..
We shall go through this together..
May God have mercy upon us all."
--King Arthur, in "Camelot"

March 5, 1999

Also of interest: Ambon: The Civil War by Max B. Surjadinata, ICCF, March 24, 1999

Visit The Australian at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/home/ (weekday) and http://weekend.theaustralian.com.au/ (weekend)