The Jakarta Post, April 16, 2004
Darwis longs to see a peaceful Poso
Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Poso, Central Sulawesi
This is a man who knows how to be at peace. He has freed his mind of the monstrous
acts that he has witnessed. He wants to share what he has learned with others.
While he works hard for peace, he does not perceive himself as a peacemaker.
He is 32-year-old Darwis Waru and he has put aside all personal business to mend
the severed ties between Christians and Muslims in his hometown of Poso.
His face shows no sign of weariness, although, when The Jakarta Post met him at his
office, he had just arrived from organizing a training session on conflict management
and resolution in Tentena -- four hours drive from Poso, the capital of Central
Sulawesi.
Darwis, sporting a T-shirt and shorts, was verbose when talking of the peace process
in conflict-ridden Poso.
His intense drive for peace inspires people of all walks of life. Foreign reporters
covering the events in Poso, researchers and embassy officials are among those who
frequent his office.
Darwis was born in Sidrap, South Sulawesi on Dec. 11 to a farming couple: the late
Waru Badja and the late Darisa Mangatta. He is of Bugis origin and says that he has
the blood of an adventurer.
Darwis attended elementary and secondary school in Sidrap before moving to
Makassar to study communications at Hasanuddin University's School of Social and
Political Sciences. After graduating in 1998, he moved to Palu, Central Sulawesi.
There he was a lecturer of the communications department of the Panca Bhakti
College of social and political sciences (STISIPOL).
While working at the college, he took up a side job as a reporter for a local mass
media publication. He became so absorbed in reporting that finally, he gave up
teaching.
In 2000, when the conflict in Poso erupted, Darwis helped to evacuate the bodies of
those drowned in the Poso river and others which had been buried en masse.
It was this experience that prompted him to devote himself to humanitarian causes.
On July 9, 2000, a number of local non-governmental organizations and the Alliance of
Independent Journalists (AJI) Palu chapter met to set up a working group on conflict
resolution in Poso. Darwis was elected chairman of that group.
As the conflict in Poso worsened, more lives were claimed and more houses set
ablaze. Violence, gunfire and the explosion of bombs left many dead, injured or
homeless. In such a grim situation, Darwis and his working group provided emergency
assistance and supplied mattresses and sarongs.
As the situation improved, he began to organize training sessions and workshops to
help the community move toward peace and begin to come to terms with what had
happened in Poso. With Christian and Muslim youths his number one priority, the
initial figure of 30 participants quickly grew. At present 200 youths are in training.
Workshop participants later act as agents of peace in all districts of Poso. Their work
was largely responsible for the peace talk between Muslims of Poso and Christians in
Tentena on March 8.
Darwis, the fourth of five siblings, said his family generally supported his activities in
Poso. His elder sister, he explained, wished that he wasn't involved in the conflict, but
he remains firm in his decision.
"I have vowed to work for humanity. I will give all my attention to people whom I can
assist. I realize I come from a poor family," he said modestly.
Darwis is indeed so busy with humanitarian activities that he refused an invitation to
attend a meeting on conflict resolution in the United States on April 7. "I've refused the
invitation not because I'm against the U.S., but because on that very date there is a
similar activity in Poso," he said.
When asked about marriage, Darwis, who is a heavy smoker, said that the time
wasn't right. Not because he doesn't have a girlfriend, but because his work in Poso is
not yet over.
"I will get married when Poso is really peaceful, as it was before. I will get married
when there is no more enmity between Muslims and Christians in Poso," he said.
Darwis commutes daily between Poso and Tentena and regularly visits 17 districts of
Poso, not just to help the people overcome their fear, but also to build trust among the
community.
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