Separatist Groups Batter Indonesia on Many Fronts

Police used tear gas outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta on Friday to disperse protesters wanting international support for independence for remote Irian Jaya.

But 2,400 miles away in the restive Indonesian province itself, thousands of separatists--intimidated by a massive security clampdown and the arrest of their leaders on subversion charges--stopped short of demanding the same.

Watched over by hundreds of police and troops, they obeyed government orders not to publicly declare secession.

Their day of peaceful protest in the provincial capital, Jayapura, ended after dark when police lowered an outlawed rebel flag without provoking violence from the crowd, which initially had refused to bring it down.

Then early today, riot police armed with guns, shields and batons quietly took control of a cultural center in Jayapura that had been occupied by Irian Jaya’s ragtag separatist movement for the last year. They met no resistance.

Police said some activists could stay under supervision for now, on the promise that rebel flags would no longer be raised at the center.

Past attempts by police to haul down flags have ended in bloodshed, including the killings of about 40 people in the town of Wamena in October.

Some protesters sobbed as their “Morning Star” ensign stopped flying Friday.

“We allowed them to lower it to protect our people’s safety,” said Katerina Yabansubru, a senior pro-independence activist. “It is only a symbol. It doesn’t mean our freedom struggle is over.”

The controlled calm was not matched in the capital, Jakarta, where police clashed with about 200 separatists near the U.S. Embassy. The protesters demanded that Washington support self-determination for their jungle-covered and mineral-rich homeland, also known as West Papua.

Friday was the 39th anniversary of Irian Jaya’s first attempt to form a nation. Tribal leaders in what was then Dutch New Guinea demanded an end to colonial rule on Dec. 1, 1961. Indonesia occupied the province two years later and has fought rebels ever since.

President Abdurrahman Wahid has called for tough action against those wanting Irian Jaya and other restive provinces to break away from the world’s fourth-most populous nation.

Wahid is fending off calls to resign over a range of crises and scandals. Many believe separatist and communal violence that has killed thousands could help push him from office.

In Maluku province, also known as the Moluccan islands, two people were shot to death Friday after a mob of about 2,000 Muslims threw homemade bombs at security officers.

On Thursday, police said, 50 people were massacred in a remote village in the region, about 1,600 miles northeast of Jakarta.

The islands have been the scene of vicious fighting between Muslims and Christians since 1999. More than 4,000 people have been killed.

In the far western province of Aceh, rebel leaders asked that a new round of peace talks with the Indonesian government be postponed for two weeks to Dec. 15, as fighting continued there.

The Free Aceh Movement, which wants an independent Islamic-orientated state, said it needed more time to prepare for negotiations.

Fighting between government forces and the separatists has continued even though a truce was signed in June. More than 250 people have been killed since then, and 5,000 have died in the past decade.

Human rights activists say the violence in Aceh is as bad as it was before the truce, with torture and murder common. They accuse the Indonesian army of running death squads and committing human rights abuses.

Jakarta has threatened to declare a state of emergency in the province if the upcoming talks in Switzerland fail.