The fresh violence that erupted in the eastern Indonesian city of Ambon on Sunday was purely the act of a separatist group and had nothing to do with religion, religious affairs minister Said Agil Al-Munawar said here on Thursday evening.
Agil was responding to the bloodshed in the Spice Island city, which has claimed at least 31 lives and left more than 100 others njured.
"The Ambon riot was not religiously-motivated. It was purely triggered by the act of a separatist group in Indonesia's Maluku province," Agil made it known to Antara here before leaving back for Jakarta.
Sunday's incident occurred after a banned parade by mainly Christian separatists of the Maluku Sovereignty Front to mark the 54th anniversary of the outlawed South Maluku Republic (RMS).
Calling on all parties to exercise self-restraint, Agil said the Indonesian government had been trying to prevent the violence in Ambon from spreading into another areas in the province.
The minister and his entourage arrived in Egypt on April 27 to attend the 16th International Islamic Conference, which was participated in by 48 member countries in the Organization of Islamic Conferences