3 Comments on “Police Army Wars in Maluku”

1. Felis says:
   March 9th, 2006 at 9:52 pm

   What are the property rights laws like in Indonesia?
   So called greed very often is just a mere reflection of people being totally detached from the “ownership” in general.
   The idea then is to exploit as much as you can because tomorrow you probably won’t be here or you won’t have the opportunity to do so.
   The same kind of behaviour could’ve been observed in communist Poland on all levels.
   E.g. – Doctors worked for government salaries and so their “position” would become their opportunity/business to make money – bribes, selling medicines etc.

   Are the soldiers and policemen all local folks or strangers sent in by the government?

2. David says:
   March 10th, 2006 at 11:26 am

   I think property rights are not a big problem overall. I’m not sure how what you say relates to the police/military but certainly people have the attitude of taking what they can get and quick about it.

   I think the soldiers come from outside maluku and even some of the police, the mobile brigade police who often get moved around. But yes generally there might be an outsider-local element to it as well as a tribal religious one in that many of the police are Christian, not all though, and most of the soldiers are Muslim.

3. Felis says:
   March 11th, 2006 at 10:34 pm

   I general terms if the property is considered “common” it becomes devastaded by the users.
   Appears like greed but in fact greed is always with us and it there is no single group or person free of this vice. Ownership forces us to manage rather than plunder for quick profit.
   When we “feel” ownership of our surrondings we tend to look after them.

   It all starts with the base, of the local property/business owners.
   If they feel secure and treat their properties as something that nobody can take from them and they and their families will (potentially) own it for generations to come) it creates stability and good management of the local resources.
   This reflects upon peacufull co-existance between the locals ant this upon the local law enforcement and so on and so on.
   This is why I asked about the property rights.
   In most south American countries land belongs to rthe state ind it is either leased or given on the basis of rights to cultivate.
   Results are devastating to both; the environment and human relationship.
   Plounder, bribes and killings at night.

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