Nor can Indonesia's economic malaise be blamed, since the Moluccas have been relatively unaffected by Asia's financial turmoil.

ECONOMIST: Indonesia

Several thousand arrived in the Moluccas after sailing from the main Indonesian island of Java, over 2, 000km (1, 240 miles) away.

ECONOMIST: Indonesia��s unholy war

Like many parts of Indonesia, the Moluccas suffer from the vacuum of power created when ex-President Suharto stepped aside two years ago.

ECONOMIST: Indonesia��s unholy war

The violence that has gripped Indonesia has already led to the killing of more than 1, 500 people in the Moluccas in the past year.

ECONOMIST: Brutality and budgets in Indonesia

They include the millions of Indonesians who have been horrified by the rampant separatist and communal violence which has broken out across the vast archipelago, and which this week saw religious killings jump from the Moluccas to the tourist island of Lombok.

ECONOMIST: Brutality and budgets in Indonesia