THE AUSTRALIAN, April 22, 2002
Boys swap pens for machetes
By Don Greenlees
ARMED with a bow and arrow or a machete, Godlif Rahael has joined many battles
against his enemies in the past three years.
He has seen a soldier fall dead in front of him, shot in the head, and he has burned
many houses. He is not sure whether he has killed.
But, like every 13-year-old boy, he has an ambition.
"I want to go back to school," he says. And after that? "I want to be a soldier."
Godlif, a Christian who left school in the seventh grade, is a member of an 80-strong
child militia calling itself "The Children of the Church that God Loves". The gang of
young high school boys has regularly pitted itself against Muslim fighters in a
sectarian war that has cleaved the eastern islands of Maluku in Indonesia.
These smooth-skinned youths, who go to war in T-shirts bearing labels such as
"American Basic", have murdered and maimed, and burned houses and mosques, in
the name of a conflict they barely understand.
Foreign aid agencies have identified nine child militia on the Christian side with a
membership of at least 200 boys as young as 10. They are bound by the thrill of gang
life.
On the Muslim side, the problem is largely the same. The only difference, according
to activists and aid workers, is that Muslim children are mixed in with adult fighters
rather than forming separate child militia.
After claiming 6000 lives since January 1999, the communal clashes in Maluku and
neighbouring North Maluku started to die down in July and August last year. A deal to
end the conflict was sealed two months ago. But demobilising the child militia has
confronted aid workers with the problem of changing entrenched habits of conflict.
"These kids are very proud to be actively involved in the conflict and that is one of the
main challenges – to change perceptions," says John Reinstein, Maluku director of
the British-based Save the Children Fund.
Working with Christian and Muslim groups, SCF is striving to get these child soldiers
back into school. In Maluku, some believe the years of fighting have left the youths
with scars that will be hard to heal.
Activists fear a lingering hostility in the youths could be the spark of future conflict.
"From what I see, the conflict has destroyed the future of children in the whole island,"
says Sister Brigitta Renyaan, whose Our Lady of the Sacred Heart order is working
closely with militia members.
For some of the child veterans, the reality of bloodshed has sapped any romantic
notions they might have had.
Johannes Supusepa took a life on Seram island two years ago, when he was 17.
Using a machete in what he says was self-defence, he cut down a Muslim man in his
50s. As an Ambonese love song is strummed on a nearby guitar, a tear wells in
Johannes' eye.
"Sometimes I feel sinful and afraid," he says. "I am doing my best not to kill anyone."
© The Australian
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