The Wall Street Journal, May 3, 2002
HOUSES OF WORSHIP
A Jihad Elsewhere
By DOUG BANDOW, senior fellow at the Cato Institute.
Ambon, Indonesia - For violent religious conflict -- especially between Muslims and
non-Muslims -- the world's attention is directed at the Mideast and the threats
emanating from al Qaeda.
But this archipelago nation has its own share of bloody discord, and like other
countries facing such trouble it is attempting its version of a peace process, with
mixed results so far.
Last week 14 Christians were burned and stabbed to death near this provincial capital,
part of Indonesia's Moluccas Islands. The attackers wore black masks, but there is
little doubt they are affiliated with the Laskar Jihad, which rejected a recent peace
accord.
To be sure, peace is desperately needed here. A large, makeshift cross in Ambon
marks the spot where a church once stood. The vacant lot is now part of no man's
land separating the Christian and Muslim parts of town. Nearby lie several blocks of
ruined buildings filled with the debris of war.
Conflict has taken place sporadically over the past three years. But religious tensions
date back to colonial times, when the Dutch favored the then-majority Christians.
Muslims long resented their own relative poverty, Christians the influx of Muslim
immigrants.
In January 1999 a dispute between a Christian bus driver and a Muslim passenger
spiraled out of control, triggering violence. In just two years as many as 10,000 people
died, and 700,000 fled. Some 400,000 remain in refugee camps. Although both sides
have suffered, Christians, who are only 10% of Indonesia's population, have borne the
greater weight of persecution and suffering.
Robert Lesnussa, a Bible teacher in Jakarta, says that successful missionary efforts
by Christians have fueled the anxiety and anger of Muslims. "They feel Christians are
threatening their religion." In late 1999, a Muslim mob descended on the seminary
where Mr. Lesnussa once taught. Only rubble remains.
Far worse is the situation in the Moluccas, where some 6,000 fighters of the Laskar
Jihad, or Holy Warrior Troops, have flocked to combat the islands' Christians.
Hundreds of churches have been destroyed. Human casualties include not only the
dead and wounded but, in another sense, the Christians who have been forced to
convert to Islam, the price of being allowed to stay in their villages.
The peace agreement seemed to hold out hope. It was the work of 70 Christian and
Muslim delegates who in February called for an investigation of the start of the
religious conflict, respect for religious freedom, disarmament of communal forces and
the return of refugees. Not long after the pact was signed, C.J. Boehm, a Dutch
missionary at the Catholic Crisis Centre here, told me that it had been "received fairly
well."
But the big question mark was always the Laskar Jihad. Nearly two years ago I met
Christian leaders ranging from pastors to retired generals who all agreed that these
fighters must be removed from the Moluccas. Most Christians still view the Laskar
Jihad as the main barrier to peace. It "clearly wants to make Indonesia into a Muslim
state," Mr. Boehm says.
And indeed, the Laskar Jihad denounced the peace accord, calling the Muslim
delegates "good for nothing" and "trash." Two days before the latest killings, Jafar
Umar Thalib, a commander for the Laskar Jihad, told a Muslim crowd: "From today,
we will no longer talk about reconciliation." Yet Thamrin Ely, head of the Muslim
delegation, opposed removing the Laskar Jihad's members from the islands. And last
year Haddi Abdullah Soulisa, the leader of Ambon's Muslim community, supported
them: They "come to help Muslims," he said, and "not only for war."
The main hope for peace is war weariness. Also critical is the commitment of the
provincial government, backed by Jakarta, to preserve the peace. During the fighting,
Christians called on the military to stop siding with the Muslims. One Christian leader
told me that such a move would require "intervention from outside," principally the
U.S. But Mr. Soulisa rejects that course: "The U.S. shouldn't police the world. Give us
time for Indonesia to make it by ourselves."
Now is the time. Last year, Agus Wattimena, the head of a Christian militia fighting
the Laskar Jihad, told me: "Go back to America and tell Christians that they must
help us here." He was killed shortly afterward.
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