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.