“Enough is enough. We don’t want anymore wars or politics. What we really need now is enough food, good education and quality health services for our kids. That’s why I am trying to find a better job,” Hendrik, 30, said here over the weekend.

Trying to improve life is the main preoccupation of people here, after the conflict which began in 1999, and ended in the early 2000s.

When asked if he had ever heard about the movement for the Republic of South Maluku (the RMS movement), the father of two said the organization is dead in Maluku.

Several of its alleged supporters were tried and convicted for joining rallies associated with the movement, originally set up in the 1950’s to fight for separation from Indonesia.

“What RMS? There are many better things to talk about,” Hendrik said.  That was two weeks ago.

But as local media gave wide coverage recently to the RMS, Hendrik said he felt compelled to follow the news. The trigger was President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s recent cancellation of his trip to the Netherlands, following news that some Netherlands citizens including those representing the
RMS had filed a lawsuit and demanded his arrest on charges of human rights violations. The reports became headlines in national and  local media.

“Every where I look it’s only news on the RMS, so many of us have now discussed the issue even after we have forgotten them for so long. It’s actually useless,” Hendrik said, adding that all the young people in Maluku had had enough of the RMS as they were now preoccupied with their own lives.

Chairman of the Association for Netherlands Alumni and Families, Theo Lekatompessy, who is of Maluku descent, agreed that the real winner of the cancellation of Yudhoyono’s trip was the RMS.

“The RMS has achieved its goals. It has managed to make Yudhoyono fail to come to the Netherlands while getting wide coverage from the media and international attention,” Theo said.

Theo expressed fears that the wide media coverage and international attention could form a basis for RMS to take its moves to the next level, including filing the case with the international human rights court, and in the event of a victory, this could be used to demand a referendum for independence in Maluku. “Domestically, at least the RMS can now show to Maluku people that they are not dead yet. With all these headlines, the RMS still exists in the minds of Maluku people again,” he said.    

Sam Pormes, a former Dutch senator and also of Maluku descent, explained that the community of Maluku descendants in the Netherlands had grown from 12,000 in 1951 to 45,000 recently.

Of that number, he claimed about only 1,000 still aspired to establish an independent republic of “South Maluku”. Another 1,000 descendants have publicly declared they oppose the establishment of the RMS, he said.   

“Ten or 20 years ago, RMS had a strong support base. But nowadays, the majority of us don’t care about whether to accept or reject RMS ideology,” he said.

Pormes said that 10 or 20 years ago, RMS demonstration would have been supported by thousands of people. “Now, only hundreds of them attend their biggest activities,” he said.

“They have difficulties in funding and in keeping their organization intact. Out of 1,000 that openly express sympathy with the organization, only about 100 people contribute regularly to RMS. Also, the die-hard followers have grown old, and they have had problems recruiting young members,” he said.
 

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