The Jakarta Post, January 09, 2003
Traditional leaders meet to help end Maluku strife
Ati Nurbaiti, The Jakarta Post, Ambon, Maluku
More than 100 rajas (traditional leaders) from the Maluku islands will begin a
three-day meeting here on Thursday in a bid to bring a complete end to four years of
sectarian fighting in the troubled islands following a peace deal.
Taking place at the Pattimura University in the Maluku capital of Ambon, the meeting
is part of efforts to restore peace on the islands, where Muslims and Christians have
been embroiled in religious conflict since early 1999.
It will bring together at least 110 out of around 210 significant kings and queens from,
among other islands, Ambon, Haruku, Saparua, Buru and Banda.
The convention is aimed at bringing about a "master plan" for the conflict-torn province
in the areas of education, law, security and small-scale businesses.
Ichsan Malik, coordinator of the meeting, said on Wednesday that the role of
traditional leaders was to revive and strengthen the "bottom-up" approach in resolving
the conflict and its aftermath, given that they are considered the grassroots leaders in
Maluku.
"It is also to fill in the cultural gap, in which the political and economic approaches
have failed to stop the bloodshed," he told a news conference ahead of the meeting in
Ambon.
The traditional leaders have been sidelined since the autocratic New Order regime of
former president Soeharto, whose policy of administration uniformity ruined the rajas'
roles in resolving communal conflicts in the country's eastern islands.
The three-day meeting follows months of efforts by the Baku Bae Peace Movement to
bring as many of the rajas together to help end the conflict.
The movement had first organized a peace dialog involving a number of Maluku tribal
leaders in December 2000 in Yogyakarta to discuss efforts to end the fighting. The
second meeting of this kind took place in Bogor, West Java, last year.
Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, who is also the monarch of the
Yogyakarta province, is scheduled to address Thursday's convention. National Police
chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar will appear on the final day of the meeting on Saturday.
"The sultan is the only one of the four musketeers. The three others will be Megawati
Soekarnoputri, Abdurrahman Wahid and Amien Rais, on whom we can have hope,"
Ichsan said.
The forum will also highlight the role of intellectuals "who also hold responsibility" for
the future of Maluku, said a statement released during the news conference.
Other speakers include noted anthropologist Teuku Jacob, historian R. Leirissa and
psychologist Sarlito Wirawan, as well as senior officials such as former Maluku
deputy governor Paula B. Renjan.
Religious violence first broke out on Jan. 19, 1999, in Maluku, has since claimed the
lives of some 6,000 people. More than 500,000 others were forced to flee their homes.
The rival factions signed a peace deal in February, 2002 in Malino, South Sulawesi, to
end the long-standing conflict. It did significantly reduce clashes but sporadic violence
has occasionally erupted, especially since the Laskar Jihad militia refused to accept
the Malino accord.
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