National News - February 03, 2006
Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Palu
The special team tasked to speed up the end to violence in Poso, Central Sulawesi, has just two months to go to complete its three-month mandate, although it could be extended, if deemed necessary.
The team, under the leadership of a two-star police general, Insp. Gen. Paulus Purwoko, has managed to convince the public of its usefulness, and thus early resistance to its establishment on Jan. 5 has been toned down.
Purwoko said his office liaised with security personnel, government officials and the community. He said his office was also entrusted to uphold law enforcement, settle corruption cases and investigate the possibility of police and/or military involvement in violence in Poso.
Answering to the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, the task force aims to find out who has been behind a series of violent attacks in Poso and Palu following the Malino peace agreement in 2001, which largely brought to an end clashes between Christians and Muslims.
But Purwoko admitted the biggest obstacle to solving the cases was the fear and lack of cooperation from local people. "They're reluctant to testify about the people behind the terror acts," he said.
The fear, he said, is because the witnesses have no faith in security personnel's ability or willingness to offer them comprehensive protection should they blow the whistle on the terrorist masterminds.
"So our effort now is to assure people that Poso can be safe and the perpetrators will be arrested soon, if the people are willing to open up. We will always protect them," Purwoko promised.
Earlier, activists feared the task force would have sweeping powers to arrest people with no legal process.
"After explanations by Pak Purwoko did we understand the real issue," said the coordinator of Poso Center, Yusuf Lakaseng.
But observers have also cited the need for strong measures to put a stop to the continued violence in the area, from bombing to the beheadings of teenage girls.
The latest incident was a bomb blast at a Christian market in Palu on the morning of New Year's Eve. The attack took seven lives and injured 50 others.
As the task force works to close various unsolved cases in Poso, it is also helping to restore some of the social life to the area -- at least regarding the routines of worship and the immediate need for aid. This seems to be the easy part.
A spokesman for the team, police Sr. Comr. Didi Rochyadi, said they would try to rebuild five mosques and five churches in cooperation with the Office of the Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare and international NGOs, in a bid "to bring back some life to Poso". The costs of rebuilding the mosques and churches has been estimated at about Rp 6 billion (US$652,173).
Didi also said the task force would soon begin to disburse aid to over 2,000 households; non-civil servants get Rp 2.5 million each while civil servants will receive Rp 1.25 million each.
The more difficult part is the core mandate of the task force: investigating and stopping the violence. They will be working on at least 47 unresolved cases, Didi said.
He said priority cases could include the graft cases involving aid, the beheadings of schoolgirls in October and the New Year's Eve attack in Palu market.
From the time of the Malino peace declaration in 2001 up to November 2005, there are 153 unsolved cases of violence and human rights violations, according to the Sulawesi chapter of the independent Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence.
Government experts say the violence in Poso is a result of several factors, including economic hardship, an attempt to protect suspected aid embezzlers, local political interests and misconduct by security personnel.
Will the task force help to return peace? From experience, every time a security operation ends, shootings, killings and bomb blasts return. The public here will wait and see, and give the task force a chance. ***
No comments:
Post a Comment