Ambon leaders seek security guarantee for travelers

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.