The Jakarta Post, March 20, 2006
Local wisdom prevents conflict escalation
Alpha Amirrachman, Ambon, Maluku
Along the 30-kilometer road from Pattimura airport to the Maluku capital Ambon, the
view of destroyed churches, mosques and houses no longer shocks most Ambonese.
In a taxi that charged three times as much as before the conflict, the driver explained
which areas belonged to Muslims and Christians. He never uttered the words
"Christians" or "Muslims". Instead he crossed his fingers when referring to Christians
and bent his finger close to his thumb to form a crescent, the symbol of Islam.
He seemed to realize the sensitivity of the words, and that if he expressed them in the
"wrong" tone he might re-trigger the conflict. Or that if security officers overheard, he
might be misunderstood and thought to be planning to stir up the conflict between the
religious communities.
Just recently a clash broke out between police and military that left two personnel
killed and one student injured. Police officer Second Brig. Arnold R. Wakolo was
stabbed to death by unidentified people on March 3, followed by an apparent
retaliation murder of military soldier Second Brig. I Putu Haryanto the following day.
Police then allegedly opened fire on a crowd in Batumerah village in Sirimau district,
injuring Pattimura University student Saiful Wakano.
The incident did not escalate into large-scale violence. If the injured student had been
killed, the situation could have spiraled out of control. Remember the protracted
communal conflict of a few years ago was triggered by a small fight between a petty
criminal and a public minivan driver on Jan. 19, 1999, yet it left thousands dead.
"Conflicts will only benefit security officials," said local activist Abubakar Kabakoran,
who has been promoting peace in the city that has been religiously segregated since
the communal violence. He recalled that Army soldiers received lots of money for
guarding goods that arrived in the Muslim dominated port and for providing security
during the delivery of the goods from Muslim to Christian areas during the two years of
the conflict. When peace prevails, such material gains cease.
"Nonetheless, the marines might still be benefiting from backing illegal fishing and the
police from issuing licenses for unregistered vehicles, things that could cause envy
among the demoralized Army personnel," said Abubakar.
It is true that militant groups, some of them used to receiving support from individuals
in the military and police, such as Laskar Jihad, Satgas Amar Maruf Nahi Munkar,
Mujahidin and Siluman from the Muslim camp, and Laskar Kristus, Coker and
Pasukan Agas from the Christian side have been disbanded. However, the rivalry
between military personnel, or between the military and police, still poses a serious
threat to the peace building process. This may be part of the problems following the
separation of the police from the Indonesian Military in 2000.
Besides the problem of a "militarized" society, by birth, Indonesia has a spirit of
uniformity, not plurality. People learned and adopted the culture of violence from the
imposition of the authoritarian New Order regime. After the fall of the regime, the spirit
of forced tolerance was replaced by ethno-nationalism, particularly in conflict areas
such as Maluku where the Republic of Southern Maluku independence movement
remains strong.
So how to break this circle of violence? From a cultural perspective, it can only be
broken by "not learning the violence". Local wisdom which promotes peace can
actually be explored to help communities detach themselves from this culture of
violence.
Religious tension can also be reduced by the spirit of brotherhood, which can
suppress religious differences, because members of the united family often adhere to
different religions.
There has also been a bakubae movement in place, exploring a set of local values
that help prevent violence. In religious discourse, a statement like "The father of
Muslims and Christians is Abraham" can be spread to increase the sense of
commonality between the two religious communities.
Nonetheless, peace-building initiatives following the government-sponsored Malino
peace agreement in 2002 have only slowly become fruitful. Hasbollah Toisuta from the
Institute of the Strategic Study and Empowerment of Maluku said that often social
activists are "selling" the Maluku conflict merely for the sake of enhancing their
credentials.
"Like the bakubae movement, many of its initiatives are mere talks among elite
groups held in Java, without concrete programs for the ordinary people here,"
lamented Hasbollah, adding that if local people had been more intensively involved,
the results could have been more in-depth and widespread.
Therefore, besides improving the professionalism of the police and military, local
wisdom-based peace initiatives such as peace education involving ordinary people are
imperative to produce a genuine and lasting peace. Besides celebrating the harvest in
Buru district during his visit to Maluku on March 17-19, President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono should also use this opportunity to touch on more fundamental issues
that concern the future of peace among ordinary people in this conflict-torn province.
The writer is a researcher at the International Center for Islam and Pluralism and a
lecturer at Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa State University in Banten. He is currently doing
research in Maluku, West Kalimantan and Central Sulawesi on the role of local
wisdom in conflict prevention and resolution.
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