Muslims call for jihad in Spice Isles

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, JAN. 7. Even as the Indonesian Navy blockaded the Spice Islands in a bid to contain the raging communal clashes there and as four parties announced concerted moves for a quick merger to enhance the power of political Islam, several lakh Muslim protesters on Friday vowed at a congregation in Jakarta to wage a holy war against the minority Christians if the President, Mr. Abdurrahman Wahid, fails to re-establish order in the riot- ravaged province.

The rally, held at the National Monument Square in Jakarta, was billed as a ``congregation of a million Muslims.'' But, according to independent observers on the scene, the congregation would have been attended by at least three lakh people, while some other estimates put the figure at about half a million. Today's rally was the third successive protest congregation in as many days, although the previous gatherings were not of the same scale.

While anti-Christian sentiments ran high at today's rally, the focus was confined to the present religious-ethnic turmoil in the Maluku Spice Isles - a Christian-majority enclave in a predominantly Islamic Indonesia. The demonstrations in Jakarta were sparked by reports that nearly 2,000 Muslims had been slaughtered in the Halmahera segment of Spice Isles in recent days.

While the military authorities, responsible for security in the riot-hit areas, clarified that no massacre of that magnitude had occurred, reports from the region, as carried by the national news agency on Friday, quoted some local health officials as saying that over 900 might have died in Halmahera in the latest wave of violence.

The Maluku regional military commander expressed the view that there was no need to delimit the area for special security operations. His comments were in line with the President's assertion that he would not contemplate the imposition of martial law in the Maluku region for now.

While the Maluku situation was not considered as alarming as that in Aceh, as seen from the Indonesian military standpoint, the Navy considered it necessary to clamp a blockade of the Spice Islands. An estimated seven ships had been deployed for the purpose of preventing the entry of unspecified vessels and the plying of boats from one affected enclave to another. The stated objective was to curb the free movement of rioters belonging to both communities. In the face of calls by the protesters in Jakarta for a ``jihad'' against the Christians in Ambon and other segments of the Spice Isles, the President is said to have ordered additional security vigil for keeping the self-styled crusaders at bay.

At today's Jakarta rally, the Chairman of the recently constituted National People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), Mr. Amien Rais, an Islamic intellectual, said there was need to guard against any move to weaken Indonesia as the largest Muslim- majority State. The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR), Mr. A. M. Fatwa, echoed similar sentiments. Mr. Amien, leader of the National Mandate Party, joined Mr. Hamzah Haz, Chairman of the Islamist United Development Party, and the representatives of the Justice Party as also the Crescent and Star Party in signalling readiness to merge their organisations.

The aim, it was said, was to create a unified Islamist political force in time for the next general election. Today's call was also seen in Jakarta's political quarters as a response to the President's claim that his National Awakening Party and the Vice- President, Ms. Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI-P) might soon polarise the Indonesian political landscape despite the continued presence of the former ruling outfit, Golkar Party, on the scene.

It was partly against this context that today's rallyists called for Ms. Megawati's resignation for her alleged failure to stem the communal riots in Maluku despite her mandate to ensure peace there.

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