Ambon's sweet road to conflict recovery

Edi Suhardi Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia Jakarta

When the horrifying sectarian conflict broke out in 1999, no one believed it could happen in the capital of Maluku province long known as Ambon manis, or Sweet Ambon. Ambon was at the center of the communal conflict that affected almost the entire province until 2002.

In the provinces of Maluku and North Maluku, the cost of the conflict was meted out in a devastating humanitarian crisis, both in terms of the loss of lives and the negative social impact on the already impoverished region.

Public services have collapsed, tens of thousand of homes have been burned down or severely damaged, and more than 8,000 people have died as a result of the conflict. Basic services, such as health and education, are not functioning. The community became segregated and partisanship flourished. More than half the population became internally displaced.

All companies operating in Maluku abandoned Ambon, causing unemployment levels to reach 45.49 percent. Negative economic growth caused the economy to plunge from 7.33 percent in 1998 to minus 7.76 percent in 2001, and the percentage of the population living below the poverty line rose to 38.01 percent by the end of 2001, from only 10.36 percent in 1998.

Public services descended into an abysmal state, in which the bureaucrats were segregated by religious and ethnic groupings. Many officials left and decided not to return to Ambon. Public services were minimal, especially from 1999 to 2001 -- effective working hours stood at 1-2 hours per day, 3-4 days a week.

Dysfunctional public services and widespread corruption, collusion and nepotism led to the loss of public trust in the government. The conflict was further exacerbated by the absence of law enforcers -- police personnel, public prosecutors, attorneys and judges -- who had abandoned Ambon.

The situation and condition in Ambon from 1999 to mid-2002 reflected features of a "weak state" according to the scholar Kalevi J. Holsti. His assessment of whether a state is strong or weak is not measured by the state's monopoly of violence, but by levels of legitimacy. Weak states, he writes, are those states unable to sustain domestic legitimacy and peace.

M.J. Papilaja, the new Ambon mayor since August 2001, launched what seemed a mission impossible, as he pursued his political commitment to reform and introduced a strategic plan for recovery and reform. Included in his plan were social stability, public security, human resource development, reactivation of the economy, and democratization and revitalization of traditional values.

The reform effort has regained the trust of stakeholders in the local government, and the improved stakeholder relations have led to the ebbing of communal conflicts at all levels.

More harmonious relations among different groups are developing with the removal of obstacles to communication. This new situation has enhanced public trust in the local government, and enhanced the participation of civil society and stakeholders in the formulation of regional ordinances.

The reform program focuses on local policy reform, including the introduction of transparent and accountable financial management, and the institutionalization of public participation in a multi-stakeholders forum, from the community to the municipal level. This initiative also serves as a vehicle to balance the power and interaction between the government, civil society and the newly revived small-scale entrepreneurs; its approach includes strengthening civil society, improving public services and partnership building.

The Ambon municipality has been working with a number of organizations, including the non-governmental organization, Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia, to carry out an integrated governance reform program aiming at building trust and achieving the revitalization of public services.

Improvements are visible within the civil service, as well as in public service delivery. Internal improvements include a gradual change toward a merit-based civil service recruitment system, i.e. and the implementation of the international public sector accounting system (IPSAS).

Public service delivery is improving with the commitment of district and village heads, who have become increasingly active in community consultation and in addressing societal issues.

The IPSAS has resulted in improved financial efficiency as shown in the municipality's Rp 17.6 billion budget surplus in 2002. This surplus has been used to provide incentives for government officials, and to provide assistance to 450 refugee households at Rp 10 million each.

Improvements in the stability of socio-economic and business activities are visible in the lower inflation rate of 9.47 percent in 2002, from 14.12 percent in 2001. The number of families living under the poverty line has fallen from 17,330 families in 2001 to 13,956 families in 2002, while economic growth has increased to positive 3.1 percent in 2002, from negative 7.7 percent in 2001.

Ambon has been capitalizing on a decentralization framework to resolve the communal conflict successfully, by addressing inequality and poor governance previously embedded in the local authority.

Governance reform is seen as the road to conflict recovery in Ambon, and successful reform has been attributed to a committed pro-reform leadership and consensus building efforts. The collaborative reform project has helped rebuild trust, restart public services and improved government accountability and its capacity to deliver. All of these results have led to the establishment of peace in Ambon.

The state of civilian emergency for Maluku province was lifted recently -- a decision taken because peace has returned to the province and all security-related issues have been conducive.

Economic activities are returning to normal, the markets are open again, filled with traders and buyers of different religions and ethnicities, and three domestic carriers have resumed flights connecting Ambon with other major cities in Indonesia.

True, differences in social class, religious belief, ideology and ethnicity will inevitably fuel social conflicts. However, learning from the experience of Ambon, the conflicts in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and Papua have many options for a peaceful resolution, if total reform is implemented. The conflicts in those areas mainly stem from poor governance and inequality.

As we have learned from Ambon, we know that the road to conflict recovery depends on the political will and commitment of both the central and local governments.