Mending old mistakes<\/p>\n
One piece of advice pragmatists like to give is to look to the
\nfuture, and forget the past. But while in many cases this may be
\ngood advice, other times it may be equally prudent to look to the
\npast for the sake of avoiding old mistakes.<\/p>\n
Two cases proving this point are Poso and Ambon. Many older
\nIndonesians remember Poso as a small and peaceful harbor town
\nabout 220 kilometers south of the Central Sulawesi provincial
\ncapital of Palu.<\/p>\n
That remained so until late December 1998, when a street fight
\nbetween a Muslim and a Christian youth quickly spread, and grew
\ninto a sectarian conflict that has continued, on and off, until
\nthe present.<\/p>\n
Locals suspect \"outside elements\" of having a hand in fanning
\nthe flames. In a comment to newspaper reporters last year Hedar
\nLaudjeng, the director of the Poso Legal Aid Institute (LBH),
\nsaid he suspected the ongoing conflict to be part of a grand
\ndesign drawn up by parties hungry for power, with the aid of
\nnonlocal instigators.<\/p>\n
Supporting this assumption, Hedar said some time before the
\nfirst clashes occurred in Poso, leaflets instigating violence
\nwere found circulating in both the Muslim and Christian camps --
\nthe first of whom are found mainly the town of Poso, and the
\nlatter in the nearby town of Tentena.<\/p>\n
How much of this is fact and how much speculation is hard to
\nsay. However, it cannot be denied that the potential for conflict
\nhas always been there, close to being exploited by unscrupulous
\nelements for their own ends.<\/p>\n
Besides, the fact that the strife is such a phenomenon in Poso
\n-- as it is in and Maluku and North Maluku provinces in general
\n-- lends credence to the notion that outside intervention is
\ninvolved.<\/p>\n
Poso's 416,000 residents are divided about equally into two
\nlarge population groups, Muslims and Christians, who have
\ncoexisted peacefully for generations.<\/p>\n
It was the advent of modern technology, modern communications
\nand modern governance that ushered in meaningful change -- and
\nnot always for the better.<\/p>\n
Admittedly, the military-dominated New Order regime under
\npresident Soeharto brought improvements -- especially in terms of
\ninfrastructure.<\/p>\n
At the same time, however, Soeharto sought to \"modernize\" many
\nlocal traditional institutions by replacing them with
\n\"territorial\" officers, appointed from among the military, to
\ntake on the civilian duties of administration.<\/p>\n
This, in effect, drastically reduced or eliminated the role of
\nlocal traditional institutions, such as those of religious and
\ncommunity leaders.<\/p>\n
Many observers attribute the nonfunctioning of these respected
\ntraditional leaders in calming the current conflicts in several
\nof Indonesia's far-out provinces to this reduction of traditional
\nauthority.<\/p>\n
Hence, restoring the authority of the respected traditional
\ncommunity leaders in their former function -- if perhaps modified
\nto remain in line with current conditions -- is certainly worth
\nundertaking. In addition, outsiders should not be allowed to
\ninterfere in the local affairs of the regions.<\/p>\n
The reported recurrence of renewed violence in Ambon, the
\ncapital of Maluku, is disturbing news indeed, especially now that
\npeace appears to have been more or less restored in that
\nprovince. It is wise to remember, however, that all that has been
\nsaid of Poso is equally true for Ambon.<\/p>\n
Here, too, a minor incident among residents was blown up into
\nfull-scale communal violence that proved difficult to quell.<\/p>\n
The respected traditional authorities of old should be given a
\nchance to help end the violence.<\/p>\n
With both Idul Fitri and Christmas upon us, this is nothing
\nless than a God-sent opportunity to bring about an effective
\nreconciliation. For this effort to be successful, however, a
\nprofessional and impartial attitude in the peace effort is
\nessential.<\/p>",
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