Assembly 2000

Reports News Documents Resources Comment Information

New Uniting Church President Professor James Haire today said that violence in the Maluku Islands north of Australia was "a humanitarian disaster greater than Kosovo".

Speaking at a media conference at Prince Alfred College, Adelaide, the venue of the church’s ninth national assembly, Professor Haire called on the Australian Government to work harder at finding a solution now.

If it did not, he said, Australia would be setting big problems for itself in the future. "We will have as our neighbours generations of people who will be resentful of the callousness of this country," he said.

Professor Haire, an expert in the area, said the Government needed to provide more humanitarian aid, advocate with the Indonesia Government to end the violence in the Malukus, and increase its international advocacy, particularly for ASEAN countries to provide peacekeepers.

Professor Haire called for Australia to provide refugees with Kosovo-type safe haven visas. He said, "Now there are people dying, not just from the violence, but from starvation and exposure in the jungles. Thousands of women are giving birth in the jungles where they are hiding."

He said he had complete sympathy with Australia’s desire to improve its relationship with Indonesia and to support its democratically-elected President. But he said, "This is happening so close to us, it will have such an impact. We should be able to persuade the Indonesian Government to help stabilise the situation."

• Professor Haire has had extensive exposure to the Maluku area, having been a missionary there for 13 years. He has published his research on the religious and cultural life of the region. He says of the 130 people recently "butchered" in a wave of sectarian violence he had baptised over one third of them, confirmed most of them and had dedicated the church fire-bombed in the conflict.

Comment

Comments

Views expressed in any comments above do not necessarily reflect those of the Uniting Church in Australia.