Ambon's plight<\/p>\n
What is going on in Ambon? The answer seems obvious enough: On
\nTuesday last week, after months of apparent peace, violence
\nflared up anew between Christians and Muslims in this eastern
\nprovincial capital of Maluku. By the weekend, 21 people had died,
\nmost of them in an inter-village clash on Thursday involving
\nthousands of residents of the predominantly Christian village of
\nWai and the predominantly Muslim villages of Tulehu and Liang,
\neast of Ambon city.<\/p>\n
Although on Friday the worst appeared to be over and a
\nsemblance of normalcy had returned to the city, Ambon remained
\ntense over the weekend. Many shops and offices reportedly
\nremained closed and public transportation was scarce as the
\nmilitary issued a shoot-on-the-spot order to deter troublemakers
\nfrom aggravating the situation. That possibility may not be as
\nfar-fetched as it at first appears. During similar incidents in
\nAmbon last January, violence was quick to spread from the city to
\nseveral villages in surrounding areas. It was apparently to
\nprevent a repeat of such an escalation of violence that some 450
\nmarines were dispatched from Java to the province during the past
\nweek.<\/p>\n
In this most recent flare-up of violence, as in the clashes
\nthat paralyzed the island in January, Christians and Muslims are
\npitted against each other in a frenzy of killing and destruction.
\nReligious strife? Many Indonesians believe so. Only a relative
\nfew, it seems, believe that elements other than religion are at
\nwork to spark the conflict.<\/p>\n
Nurcholish Madjid, one of our most highly respected modern
\nMuslim scholars and a keen observer of social and political
\naffairs, raised the possibility that the involvement of Muslims
\nand Christians in many of the inter-community brawls in Ambon and
\nelsewhere could merely be a "problem of statistics". That is to
\nsay, where Muslims and Christians make up the majority of the
\npopulation, it would be natural for adherents of those two faiths
\nto be involved in conflicts of any kind, religious or otherwise.<\/p>\n
Others have a more sinister explanation for much of the
\nviolence that has plagued this nation since the downfall of
\nSoeharto's New Order regime. One hypothesis is that certain
\nelements within the military, feeling threatened by reformists'
\ndemands that they leave politics and "return to the barracks",
\nare staging a covert plot of their own to maintain their present
\nprofitable positions. By stirring up a continuous wave of unrest,
\nso the theory goes, Indonesians would have no other choice but to
\naccept the military's continued dominant role in social and
\npolitical life as well as in matters of security and defense.<\/p>\n
Which of those theories correctly explains the string of
\nviolence that has brought so much suffering to so many
\nIndonesians over recent months is difficult to determine without
\na thorough and open investigation. In the case of Ambon and the
\nrest of Maluku, it can in the meantime be noted that on those
\nparadise islands Muslims and Christians have for centuries lived
\nside by side in perfect peace and harmony with each other. If now
\nMuslims and Christians are so easily turned against each other,
\nthe sensible inference would be that some powerful new factor is
\nat work to have brought about such a radical change. What that
\nfactor might be is something for our experts to determine.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, it is imperative that the most serious
\nefforts be undertaken to end the violence -- in Ambon and
\nelsewhere in this country. The consequences of allowing the
\ncurrent situation of conflict to drag on indefinitely could be
\nmost serious and far-reaching for this nation.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ambons-plight-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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