Indonesia sacks regional security chiefs over lapse

JAKARTA, July 17 (Reuters) Indonesia has replaced the heads of the police and military in Maluku province in the east of the country after separatists infiltrated a dance group performing in front of the president, the military and media said today.

During the incident last month, traditional dancers unfurled a separatist flag in front of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the provincial capital Ambon.

The issue of separatism in parts of the sprawling country is very sensitive, and the incident got widespread local media coverage and embarrassed officials.

The military commander overseeing the Maluku islands, Major General Sudarmaidy, had been replaced by Rasjid Qurnuen Aquary last week, a military spokesman said by telephone.

''As a commander he should take responsibility,'' military spokesman Sagom Tamboen said.

Aquary was previously the head of the army's special forces.

According to newspaper reports, the national police chief also announced yesterday that the provincial police chief had been replaced after the incident.

Police officials could not immediately be contacted.

The outlawed South Maluku Republic proclaimed independence in the Maluku islands fifty years ago. The mainly-Christian group is thought to have little support there and its leaders mostly live in the Netherlands.

The Malukus, 2,300 km east of Jakarta, saw vicious fighting between Muslims and Christians from 1999 to 2002 that killed more than 5,000.

The conflict also drew Muslim militants from other Indonesian regions.

Since a 2002 truce between Muslim and Christian communities, sectarian violence has largely subsided on the islands.

REUTERS PD VV1236