DATE=1/19/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDONESIA / UNREST (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-258198
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: At least three people are dead and six
others injured in three days or rioting on the
Indonesian resort island of Lombok. As Patricia
NUNAN reports from Jakarta, the riots by groups
of Muslim youths are the latest in a wave of
religious violence spreading across eastern parts
of the country.
TEXT: Witnesses reported mobs of Muslim youths roaming
through Mataram, the capital of Lombok, attacking
churches and setting fire to houses and businesses
owned by Christians. Rioters also set up roadblocks in
the capital, demanding to see the identification of
drivers. They also blocked a ferry terminal in an
apparent attempt to prevent Christians from leaving
the city.
Resort hotels in the popular Senggigi area have
begun evacuating foreign tourists. So far there
has been no damage to the hotels.
In Jakarta, the head of Indonesia's Armed Forces
Admiral Widodo says the situation in Lombok is
under control, with about 600 police and soldiers
deployed in the area. Authorities say 50 people
have been arrested.
The violence broke out on Monday after a
demonstration intended to call attention to the
deaths of Muslim people in the eastern city of
Ambon. At least 500 people have died in clashes
with Christians in recent weeks.
Meanwhile tension is also on the rise on the
island of Sulawesi, where groups of Mulims have
reportedly begun building roadblocks in the
capital.
Analysts blame the violence in part on long-
brewing resentment between Indonesia's Christians
and Muslims, which had been effectively stifled
during the iron-fisted 32 year-rule of former
President Suharto, which ended in May 1998.
Indonesia's economic crisis is also believed to
have fueled tensions between the two groups.
But Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has
said he believes that members of the Indonesian
Armed Forces may have instigated the violence in
Lombok and in Ambon, and has ordered an
investigation.
The president -- a moderate Muslim leader -- has
also rejected demands for a "jihad" or Islamic
holy war against Christians. Roughly 90 percent
of Indonesia's 200 million people are Muslim.
NEB/PN/FC
19-Jan-2000 04:39 AM EDT (19-Jan-2000 0939 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
