Waai War (in English)

AMBON: The Battle of Waai and the Ambon Demo

By Semmy Littik - Vice Executive Director, Sala Waku Foundation Maluku
Translated by Susanto Teh, Louis Suhendra

I. The Battle of Waai

The war between the Christians and Muslims is still going on in Ambon. On February 23, 1999 (the same time war broke out at Batu Merah, Ambon),  there was an attack on the village of Waai, with its majority Christian population, by two neighboring villages where the majority are Muslim.  The attacks came primarily from Tulehu village and Liang village.  According to the testimony of Elly Tubalawoni(68), a Waai villager, the attack from Tulehu village, located west of Waai, started at 7:00 AM local time. While the Waai villagers were trying to repel the attack initiated by the Tulehus, another attack
occurred from Liang, located east of Waai, at 10:00 AM. Both of the attacking groups were helped in their efforts by people from other Muslims villages, such as Morela and Mamala villages on the Leihitu cape. The battle continued thoughout the day and night and finally ended the next day, February 24, 1999. The attack was followed by murders and the burning of houses and churches.

The following are the results of the Waai war, 1999, according to a Waiselaka Foundation document. This document was signed by Eddy Ch. Papilaya, MSc., director of the Waiselaka Foundation.

A Recapitulation of Waai War's victims, Salahutu district, Central of Maluku region, Maluku province (February 23-24, 1999): (Casualty data is only from the Waai village. Data from Tulehu, Liang and neighboring villages, such as Morela and Mamala, could not be obtained at the time of this writing.)

Material loss:

Efforts to help those displaced by the conflict were provided by many parties. Armed forces were added to secure Waai village.

II. The Christian demonstration in Ambon

On February 26, 1999, a demonstration led by Christians erupted at KOREM 174 Patttimura base and Maluku POLDA base in Ambon. The demonstrators' main concern was the brutality of the armed forces (KOSTRAD soldiers from KODAM VII Wirabuana, Ujung Pandang) which massacred Christians at Maluku Bethabara Protestant church, inner Batu Merah, Amatelu village in Sirimau district, Ambon region, Maluku province.

The demonstration started at 8:00 AM local time and began at the Maranatha Ambon church. A larger group of people from the Bethabara church, led by Ambon Christian leaders, then joined the march. A mass of 400 people arrived at Makorem 174 Pattimura and had a hearing with Danrem 174 Pattimura Col. Karel Ralahalu. The dialog between Danrem and the crowd was conducted peacefully. Some of those who led in the
discussion were Dr. David Titawana, a member of the Bethabara congregation; Dr. Fredrik Matrutty, a Christian leader; and Dr. Donald Petta, a Christian youth leader.

When the dialog at Makorem came to a close, and ended with a prayer by Pastor M. M. Siahaya (Sekum Sinode GPM), the number of people increased to about a 1000. The crowd then headed to the Maluku police headquarters. At the headquarters, representatives of the demonstrators were invited by the police chief to talk in the front yard. The Maluku police
official, who was reluctant at first to talk, finally accepted the demonstrators' demand to meet with them outside the building. One of the spokesmen for the demonstrators was Hengky Manuputty, a Christian youth leader who holds a B.A. degree in Law.

The talks focused on the following issues:

1. A demand that Danrem should remove the Moslem military officers from the Batumerah Military dormitory because they were thought to be provocateurs of the attacks on Christians at the Bethabara Church.
2. A request that Danrem immediately pull the Kostrad unit based in Ujung Pandang from Ambon because this unit was using weapons and ammunitions bought with the people's money to crush and kill the people. These troops had crushed the congregation of Bethabara, shot up the church building, shot at the refugees (mothers and children)
   and those trying to evacuate the shooting victims, and hindered the Indonesian Red Cross team.
3. A request that the Kostrad unit be exchanged with the troops from Kodam VIII Trikora Iran Jaya.
4. A demand that the Maluku Head Chief be held accountable for his conduct as safety controller at Maluku. He was responsible for the conduct of police officers who used wrong procedures, the fact that police officers were only supporting people of the same religion as themselves, and the fact that the Police Chief was intentionally allowing these wrong practices to continue. Police officers demonstrated that they purposely allowed churches to be set on fire (for example, the church at Kariu village).
5. A demand that Danrem force Komandan Den POM 174 Pattimura to retract his statements made on Ambon TV news. He stated that there were no shooting incidents toward the people inside the Bethabara Church--that it was just stray bullets in the night. However, it is a fact that shooting was directed toward the Bethabara Church congregation at 8:00 AM Central Time, when the pastor and his congregation were conducting their morning prayer.

Danrem responded to these requests by saying he accepted all suggestions and would begin an immediate investigation of the offences, in coordination with other competent officials.

The Head Police [the Police chief?] responded by promising to coordinate each situation in the field immediately, and to report the actual conditions to his boss. However, this response triggered anger from the  people because they felt that their statements were not taken seriously  and their concerns would not be properly addressed by the officials.