High price paid for flag flying in Malukus
Indonesian prosecutors will bring subversion charges against 129 separatist supporters arrested in Maluku province.
The Jakarta Post quotes the local police chief as saying the suspects will be charged with plotting against the state.
The arrests are connected to the 53rd anniversary - on April 25 - of the declaration of a Republic of South Maluku.
Those charged are accused of having sewn or flown flags of the outlawed republic.
Following the end of Dutch colonial rule, separatists proclaimed the republic in 1950 and staged a revolt against newly independent Indonesia.
The rebellion was suppressed, but activists - mainly in the Netherlands - have pursued a failed campaign for international recognition.
Supporters of the Maluku Sovereignty Front are mainly Christians.
Front chairman Alex Manuputty and another official were sentenced in January to three years in jail for subversion.
They had been arrested in Ambon in April last year after encouraging their followers to hoist separatist flags.
05/05/2003 16:05:56 | ABC Radio Australia News
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