The Jakarta Post, June 01, 2002
Maluku people need moral movement
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The majority of people in conflict-ridden Maluku reject the government top-down
approach to end the prolonged conflict and instead favor a local moral initiative called
the Bakubae Movement to stop the violence, according to an opinion poll.
The poll results presented here on Friday show that most respondents, Moluccan
people both in Maluku and Java, are disappointed with the way the government and
security authorities have handled the conflict since it erupted on Jan. 19, 1999.
The poll was jointly conducted by the Babubae Movement and the Indonesian Legal
Aid Foundation (YLBHI) in March and April. The results were presented by Ichsan
Malik and Abubakar Riry, both of the Bakubae Movement and Irianto Sub of YLBHI.
Of 1,400 respondents in 70 locations in Maluku and 30 areas in the provincial capital
of Ambon, almost 26 percent said that security personnel had acted excessively and
worsened the conflict while 24.6 percent said security personnel were neutral in
handling the conflict. Only 23 percent said security personnel had acted fairly.
Abubakar said the government had carried out a series of top-down actions, including
the peace talks in Malino, South Sulawesi in February and the recent appointment of
Maj. Gen. Djoko Santoso as new chief of the security restoration operation, but they
were ineffective.
"In fact, the people gave no response to the government's new move, meaning the
people no longer care for the government's top-down approach just because they see
no more conflict at the grassroots level," he said.
Ichsan said that according to the poll, with the ineffective civil emergency
administration, the state represented by the central government and the provincial
Maluku administration had failed to fulfill its main tasks.
"According to respondents, the conflict is latent in nature, and therefore, must be
responded to with various programs to educate the people and empower them. People
from both sides should be encouraged to take the initiative to interact with one
another to create peaceful conditions in their own social environment," he said.
Ichsan pointed out that according to the poll, 52 percent of respondents felt
desperate, scared and disappointed with the presence of both police and military
personnel on one side and armed militias on the other.
"Almost 75 percent of respondents said the military involvement would never be able
to solve the conflict which has claimed more than 6,000 lives and displaced more than
750,000 people," he said.
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