Arsonists did not spare Ambon 'reconciliation school' in clash
M. Azis Tunny, Ambon
The torching of a school on April 28 that served as a symbol of reconciliation appears to have put paid to the efforts to restore peace in Ambon through education -- for the time being at any rate.
Two months ago on March 2, students resumed their studies at the Muhammadiyah senior high school after it was rebuilt following an arson attack during the previous fighting. Now, the school has had to be abandoned again following the latest attack.
The institution was once a model school for reconciliation between warring Muslims and Christians. It was built by the Ambon municipal administration in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) at a cost of some Rp 1.160 billion (US$133,333).
The school, located on Jl. Ot Pattymaipau in Tanah Lapang Kecil (Talake), Nusaniwe subdistrict, was almost completely destroyed during the latest attack. Talake is on the demarcation line between the Muslim and Christian communities that were involved in clashes between April 25 and April 28.
After the 1999-2001 sectarian fighting ended with the signing of a peace accord, the SMU Muhammadiyah senior high school was made a model "reconciliation school" for students from different religions.
It was intended to provide education for both Christian and Muslim students at the school.
The local administration then merged the management of the Muhammadiyah school with that of the SMU Negeri 9 senior high school, whose teachers and students were mostly Christians.
The SMU Muhammadiyah later established a joint class for 40 students -- 20 Muslims and 20 Christians -- who were granted scholarships in view of the outstanding grades they had achieved.
"We call the joint Muslim-Christian class a reconciliation class. Those in the class have all been specially selected," the SMU Muhammadiyah's deputy head of curriculum development, Ona Husein, told The Jakarta Post in Ambon.
However, Ona along with 42 teachers and 245 students had to return to their previous refugee camps after the fresh violence that has killed at least 38 people in Ambon since April 25, the 54th anniversary of the South Maluku Republic separatist group.
It was the sixth time Ona has had to flee to safety since the end of the previous conflict, during which she had to move around from one shelter to another for more than two years.
"Every time I imagine this experience, I always start crying," Ona said in tears.
Despite the repeated attacks, the SMU Muhammadiyah administrators have pledged to activate the reconciliation class again after the security situation has returned to normal.
"Hopefully, our hopes will not be diminished. We consider this disaster as a brief interlude in the search for true reconciliation through education," Ona said.
She recalled that a sense of togetherness and of brotherhood had once prevailed in Talake when students and teachers from both the SMU Muhammadiyah and SMU Negeri 9 had been jointly involved in education activities before April 25, even though they were of different faiths.
Yet, the peace and calm only lasted for a short period following the April 25 violence, which has been blamed on the Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM) for commemorating the RMS' anniversary.
Nur Lubis, the SMU Muhammadiyah deputy head of infrastructure division, was also upset by the arson attack.
"Education must not be attacked as it has nothing to do with politics. We have high hopes that Maluku will in the future be able to create generations of people capable of competing with other regions in the sciences and technology. If our schools are set on fire, how can we compete," he said.
Apart from the SMU Muhammadiyah, six other senior high, junior high and elementary schools have been selected to provide examples of reconciliation. They are the Kartika Chandra VIII-1 Ambon senior high school, state junior high school 2, and the Latihan SPG 1 state elementary school, Latihan SPG 2 state elementary school, state elementary school 72 and state elementary school 73.
The latest four elementary schools located in the Airmata Cina area, which is dominated by Christians.
The six model schools were selected based on their strategic locations. The Kartika Chandra senior high school and state elementary school 2 are located in a mainly Muslim area on Jl. Dr. Latumetten, which serves as the border with a Christian community.
"The schools play significant roles in developing the reconciliation process through education. We will rebuild those that have been destroyed in the conflict," Ambon education and sports agency director AB Tabalessy said.
During the previous fighting, at least 129 state and private school buildings were burned down, as well as Pattimura University and the Maluku Indonesian Christian University (UKIM).
The local government has rebuilt at least 55 of the buildings, including the SMU Muhammadiyah and Al-Hilal elementary school 1, both of which were set ablaze again for the second time last month.