The Jakarta Post, May 10, 2004
Ambon leaders seek security guarantee for travelers
M. Azis Tunny, Ambon
As the violence dies down in Ambon, residents are relying on talks between
community leaders to enable them go about their daily business without fear of
violence.
Although most road barricades stopping traffic between Christian and Muslim
communities have been taken down, many residents are still spending time and
money taking winding mountain routes or speedboat rides to reach nearby
destinations to avoid potential danger spots.
The barriers were set up after renewed violence erupted on April 25, the anniversary of
the separatist Republic of South Maluku (RMS) movement. Thirty-eight people have
died in the bloodshed so far, many from gunshot wounds, while religious segregation
in the region has become clearer again as residents refrain from passing areas
dominated by those of another faith.
Employees and students returning from Ambon to the Christian-dominated Passo
village normally take a short ride on a public minivan, paying Rp 3,000 for the
13-kilometer trip.
Now, people have again adopted the route taken in days of the heaviest violence
between 1999 and 2002, taking a ride on a steep mountain track that costs Rp 10,000
and passes six villages and high cliffs.
On Sunday, public transport through routes passing both Muslim and Christian areas
had still not been resumed in Ambon.
To reach the Muslim-dominated Tulehu village, 24 kilometers to the east of Ambon
residents now spend up to Rp 26,000 for two speedboat rides and two minivan rides to
reach the village. It used to cost Rp 5,000 in a public van.
"There's usually many passengers in times of war, and few when it's secure again,"
said Ramli, a speedboat driver operating the route from the Muslim-dominated
Batumerah area to the Christian area of Poka across the bay.
Public buses and vans usually found at the Mardika Terminal, a "neutral" area, are
now segregated according to the religions of their passengers. Public vans for Muslim
areas are parked in the Batumerah shopping area while those for Christian areas are
found on Jl. Pattimura.
The traditional ratu (queen) of Passo, Theresia Maitimu, said on Friday that she was
working with A. Rahman Tjirebon, acting leader of the Muslim-dominated Batumerah
village, to seek a guarantee of security from both sides, so that passersby could travel
through both areas.
Until then, "land routes (passing main roads) are still closed," she said.
The villages of Passo and Batumerah are the main gates leading to and from Ambon.
In the earlier conflict these villages became among the most feared sites to cross.
A guarantee of security among traditional leaders, who are the village heads of
respective religious communities, became central to resuming normalcy, following the
three years of conflict in which thousands died.
Such guarantees were made possible only when traditional leaders, who often had led
or condoned the actions of their militia, agreed to stop taking revenge and engage in
peace-making.
Neighboring villages such as Batumerah and Passo are "related" (desa pela) in the
traditional sense that blood is thicker than religion, but anthropologists say such ties
have become blurred over the years through immigration from other islands and a lack
of effort to reduce religious segregation.
Peace-makers in Maluku have stressed efforts to return to the ancestral bonds
between neighboring villages regardless of religion.
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