Ambon violence worries press

The cycle of violence in Ambon is proving hard to break

A number of leading dailies in Indonesia have expressed concern at the outbreak of violence in Ambon.

At least 24 people have reportedly been killed there since Sunday.

"Time bomb in Ambon" reads a headline in Jakarta's Media Indonesia.

"Ambon continues to be a hotspot which can explode and become a killing field at any time," it goes on.

"Ambon is a time bomb which can destroy everything, including justice and security. The government needs to make a serious commitment to completely resolve the Ambon problem," it says.

"Why has the conflict in Ambon continued without any solution?" asks Jakarta's Sinar Harapan.

It calls on the central government to "work harder to influence the local authority and bring greater prosperity to this nation".

An editorial in the influential Kompas believes the latest violence "has once again reminded us of a number of sensitive issues we are now confronting".

The paper points to the heated debate over whether Indonesia should remain centrally ruled from Jakarta, noting that "there still exist problems regarding the survival of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia".

Kompas calls for the government to take action to "ensure that the Ambon situation is soon brought under control and will not spread to any other areas".

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.