Channel NewsAsia, 16 November 2003 1330 hrs
Asia Pacific News
Fear hinders Maluku reconciliation after bloody Muslim-Christian
conflict
AMBON, Indonesia, : Christians and Muslims in Indonesia's Maluku islands are trying
to learn again how to live with each other, 21 months after a peace accord ended
three years of bloody fighting.
But fear, fuelled by memories of the thousands of dead, still divides them.
A peace pact was signed on February 12, 2002 in this archipelago of 100 islands,
once known as the Spice Islands. In September a civil emergency was lifted.
Machete-wielding "red" (Christian) and "white" (Muslim) militiamen have disappeared
from the provincial capital Ambon, which nestles in a bay dotted with trawlers and
rusty freighters.
But ruined churches and mosques and hundreds of shattered or fire-gutted homes
disfigure the streets. Their faded walls bear few bullet holes: neighbours and friends
slaughtered each other mainly with machetes or home-made bombs.
The conflict claimed more than 5,000 lives -- almost 10,000, according to Christian
sources -- and made almost 700,000 people homeless.
"There has been quite a bit of a change in the past five months," said Anthony Badha,
a local United Nations humanitarian official. "But fear still needs to be conquered and
that cannot be done in a day or a month or even a year."
Local officials too paint a picture of life returning to normal and a continuing
reconciliation process.
"Security has been transferred to the police," said Maluku military commander Major
General Agustadi. "The armed forces will withdraw in May 2004."
During the war Christians were chased out of mainly Muslim areas and vice versa and
refugees are now the main problem. There are still 188,000 of them, official figures
show.
Financial help is given to encourage them to return home and rebuild.
But lingering fears keep Ambon a divided city. A "neutral" zone, the former front line,
delineates Muslim and Christian sectors.
The zone, with markets, administrative buildings and a commercial centre, is one of
the few places where friends from the two sides can meet.
"It's not safe to return home and in any case my house has been rented again," said
Raihun Umagap, 41, a Muslim in a camp of more than 3,000 refugees.
A sniper killed her husband in 1999 as he was leaving a mosque.
Jacob Hukam has lived since 1999 in a camp housing more than 700 Christians. His
son Pascal was born there.
"My house in the Muslim area of Batumerah has been burnt out," he said. "I can't go
back there, I'm too scared. But I don't want to live out my life here."
"I'm always scared and I don't know why," said Diana, a Christian student aged 25.
"But there was so much killing. Never did we imagine at the outset that the situation
would become so terrible."
The conflict began on January 19, 1999, with an argument between a Christian bus
driver and a Muslim passenger. Riots in Ambon spread to other islands, plunging an
archipelago once seen as a model of cohabitation into chaos.
While Indonesia's 212 million people are almost 90 percent Muslims, the Malukus
were almost equally divided between Christians and Muslims.
Almost two years after peace came, each side refuses to accept the blame for the
bloodshed and resentments fester.
The Maluku Christians felt threatened by Muslim migrants and accused army units of
siding with Muslims during the war. Muslims accuse Christians of monopolising local
government jobs.
Both sides agree that outsiders fuelled the conflict. The Christians say some soldiers
and national politicians provoked and fuelled the violence.
In May 2000 3,000 members of the Laskar Jihad Islamic militia arrived, bent on
waging a holy war against Christians. Authorities did nothing to stop the arrival,
strengthening Christian suspicions.
Last year Laskar Jihad announced it was disbanding and most members left the
Malukus. But some of them -- one hundred, according to a Muslim source -- are still
there.
"Laskar Jihad no longer exists. The war is over, We are here for humanitarian
activities, social work and for sharia (Islamic law)," said Mohammad, 28, clad in a
white robe and sporting a wispy beard.
He was speaking at a small clinic run by five militants in a Muslim district.
The other challenge is to revive the economy and find jobs for young people. "Investors
can come back, the situation is safe," said the head of the investment coordinating
agency, Yodie Patty.
But 60 percent of foreign investment is in just one sector, fishing. Since the end of the
war it has amounted to just 183,000 dollars.
"The main problem is making Maluku people feel comfortable again in their own land
and getting them to rebuild," said provincial governor Karel Albert Ralahalu.
"It needs time -- a long time."
- AFP
Copyright © 2003 MCN International Pte Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
|
