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Muslims Die as Indonesian Ferry Capsizes Before Eid Gala
By Kazi Mahmood, IslamOnline Correspondent
JAKARTA, Dec. 14 (IslamOnline) - Muslims returning to the restive Indonesian regency of Poso were reserved a deadly fate as at least 14 passengers drowned when a ferry packed with people capsized off Sulawesi Island, rescue officials said Friday.
An unknown number of people are still missing at the time of this article.
The Wanabakti went down Wednesday shortly after setting off from Ampana seaport in Central Sulawesi bound for the remote Wakai and Malange islands, about 1,600 kilometers northeast of Jakarta, Rotinsulu Rampen said.
Rampen, who is coordinating search and rescue efforts in the region, was quoted by news agencies as saying that many people aboard panicked when the boat began listing, despite the fact it was daylight and the accident occurred close to shore.
Search teams and local fisherman have rescued 135 passengers, Rampen said, adding that the ferry had a holding capacity of 65 people.
Increasing numbers of Muslims from Poso, Central Sulawesi had left refugee camps in Palu for their hometowns to celebrate Eid el Fitr, while a wave of families who fled recent clashes in Poso arrived in Manado, North Sulawesi.
At least 500 out of a total of 19,000 Poso Muslims who had been living in refugee camps in the Central Sulawesi capital of Palu for two years had begun returning to home in the last week, despite the fresh violence, Antara reported.
Meanwhile, Manado Social Affairs Office head, Jantje Kumajas, said Thursday that some 2,000 Poso refugees (believed to be Christians) had entered Manado, a mainly Christian community - boosting numbers to an overall total, including refugees from Maluku, to 25,000.
Reports said that most of the Poso refugees returning home were civil servants, whose houses were luckily "untouched" during the sectarian clashes.
Many of them used public transport, while others used official cars.
"Reports said that things have returned to normal there [in Poso]. This encourages us to return just for the Eid el Fitr holidays," said Ida, wife of a civil servant from Gebangrejo village in Poso.
Ida, who has been living in a refugee camp in Palu since May 2000, said that her family might return to Poso for good. "It depends on the situation. If violence stops we will live here. Fortunately our house was not destroyed by rioters."
Owners of public buses traveling the Palu to Poso route said they had enjoyed an increase in the number of passengers.
Army and police reinforcements in the regency of Poso may be the reason for the return of the refugees back home.
In Jakarta, officials said they were confident the crisis in Poso would soon be over and that the army now had total control of the situation.
Meanwhile, Christian organizations and political parties called for U.N. Security Council intervention to resolve the prolonged conflict saying the Indonesian government was not serious in resolving the violence.
"The [government] plan to impose both civilian or military states of emergency will not be effective in easing tension in Poso unless authorities at the local administration level are committed to resolving the conflict," Cornelius Ronowidjojo, spokesman for the Christian organizations and political parties, said in a press conference here Thursday.
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