CNN, April 10, 2002 Posted: 4:18 PM HKT (0818 GMT)
Maluku bombs won't shatter peace accord
[Photo: Ambonese surround the governor's offices after angry people damaged and
burned it in Ambon]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- When a bomb exploded in Indonesia's riot-scarred
eastern Maluku islands earlier this month, it killed six people but not the fragile peace
between Muslims and Christians who recently signed an accord to stop fighting.
The blast, which injured 59 people, struck a Christian area in Maluku's provincial
capital of Ambon, leaving the site littered with hands, arms and legs.
The sight horrified hundreds of residents who torched the governor's office in protest,
but stopped short of triggering fighting between Christians and Muslims.
"We do not see this as an attack on Christians," said Ferry Wattimury, a Christian
community leader and signatory to the peace agreement, known as Malino II.
"The people know it was an attempt to disrupt the peace process. Therefore they were
not provoked to attack Muslims. In the past, such an incident would have triggered
widespread fighting lasting for days on end," Wattimury added.
The peace deal, signed on February 12, is an attempt to end three years of
Muslim-Christian fighting which the government says has killed 5,000. Human rights
activists and local residents put the death toll closer to 10,000.
Muslim leaders condemned the attack and vowed that the peace process would
continue.
"The people are tired of fighting. They have become aware and are not easily
provoked," said Daud Sangadji, a Muslim leader and also signatory to the accord.
University of Indonesia sociologist, Tamrin Tomagola, said the blast has no effect as
Ambonese were "making peace" before the accord was signed.
"They have suffered so much and they really want the violence to end," he said.
Abu Bakar, 32, who once led a small group of men to fight against Christians, testifies
to the people's spontaneous desire for peace.
He stopped fighting when he realised Muslims and Christians were deliberately
provoked through disinformation to fight one another. He now dedicates his life to
reconciling Muslims and Christians, a move opposed by a paramilitary radical Muslim
group, Laskar Jihad.
"Laskar Jihad broadcast through their radio station that my blood is halal
(permitted).... for wanting to make peace with Christians. People have been sent to
my home to attack me but I am not afraid," said Abu Bakar.
Abu Bakar hopes his efforts to reconcile Muslims and Christians would expiate his
grief and he is prepared to lay down his life for peace.
"I once was prepared to die in war. So why should I be afraid to die fighting for peace,"
he asked?.
Holy war
Peace in Maluku is crucial to rebuilding the shatttered islands and to strengthening
the existing religious tolerance in the rest of the country.
At the height of the conflict in 2000, Laskar Jihad called for Muslims to wage a holy
war against Christians in Maluku.
Their call drew thousands of young Muslims from all over the country, including from
Malaysia and Pakistan. Ambonese have also reported seeing Afghans training with
them during that period.
Laskar Jihad comes from Java and were blamed for exacerbating the conflict. Many
Ambonese want them to leave the islands.
Extinguishing religious violence has an added impetus given the current background of
the U.S war in Afghanistan and the Middle East crisis which has inflamed Muslim
sentiment in the world's largest Muslim country.
While the majority of Muslims in Indonesia are moderates, the loud rhetoric of the
radicals have unsettled the government and the international community.
Several radical Muslim groups have begun calling for volunteers to wage a holy war
against Israel when the Israel-Palestine crisis broke out a week ago.
Ambon's violence erupted in 1999 was triggered by a dispute between a Christian bus
driver and Muslim hudlum. After having lived in harmony for over a century, Muslims
and Christians turned against each other.
The conflict displaced half a million people and destroyed thousands of homes. It
carved the island into Christian and Muslim enclaves.
Since the peace deal, more than 80 percent of the barriers dividing Muslim and
Christian areas have been dismantled.
"There are only a few barriers left which I am sure will come at some point," said
Muslim leader Sangadji.
© 2001 Cable News Network LP, LLLP
|
