Ending the Maluku mayhem

After months of waiting, the people of Maluku were finally visited on Sunday by President Abdurrahman Wahid and Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

The visit had long been expected, because locals had witnessed with disgust the bloody intercommunal clashes and had failed to find a way to end them.

Locals have pinned their hopes on the central government putting an end to the bloodshed, which since January has claimed the lives of at least 657 civilians and 14 security officers. The tragedy, which has shocked the nation, is even more lamentable because the figure is disproportionate to the province's population of a little more than two million people.

The former harmonious life of the population, who are scattered on many small islands and who profess to different creeds, remains fresh in everyone's minds. Many believed that the dirty hands of provocateurs from outside effectively disturbed the idyllic situation.

Alas, while violent skirmishes continued to claim lives, not one national leader -- including the Vice President who had been authorized to handle the situation -- had made even a swift visit to the province. Many analysts believe that Megawati had no idea what to tell the people, or what to do about the bloodshed in the former spice islands. Some people said that she had neither a concept not the guts to solve the conflict.

But it was not Megawati's problem alone. The crisis appears to be just too complicated for the government. The administration's stance was made clear by Coordinating Minister of Defense and Security Gen. Wiranto when he acknowledged that he was at a loss on how to resolve sectarian violence in the province. He added that the problem could only be solved by the parties involved in the fighting.

The statement shows the way the military perceives the current provincial crises: either it resorts to brutal operations, or it leaves the matter in the hands of locals. Such a strategy augurs nothing but a grimmer future for this country. Even more shocking is that Abdurrahman repeated Wiranto's statement to the Maluku people during his Sunday visit.

It tests our notions of credibility if we accept the facts as they unfolded. Instead of helping the local people, the government has left them stranded in darkness and confusion. Some of them may have asked themselves "what kind of government is this?" And the President may have said to himself that it was local inhabitants who allowed the crisis to drag on until it became out of hand. Now they have to solve the dilemma themselves.

This is a dangerous approach to regional crises. Had the President given the same answer to the rebellious Acehnese, who are currently waging a war for an independent state, they would have answered: "OK, we have solved it because we declared our independence in 1967. What you should do is withdraw your brutal battalions from here."

In Maluku, the intercommunal violence has been so serious that it is hard to say who started the trouble and how to put an end to it. Muslims and Christians have resorted to a kind of a vengeful orgy, leaving their religions looking like a corrupted dream of peace.

However, even in this dire situation we can still see a silver lining. We strongly believe that no Muslim or Christian religious leader in Jakarta would permit their religions to be transformed into such lunacy.

Once and for all, they should sit down and discuss how to put an end to this ugly war. The religious leaders should later travel to the troubled province to talk to the warring parties and persuade them to meet at the negotiating table in order to reach a comprehensive agreement. If such measures are not taken, we fear the violence will consume the whole area.

The central government should also join efforts to end the bloodshed, otherwise the Maluku crisis will drag on and the disastrous religious conflict will unquestionably spread to other areas.