Explaining Jusuf Kalla's Statement, Clarifying the Incident

In recent days, the 10th and 12th Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, Jusuf Kalla (JK), has been intensely cornered and heavily criticised. A number of individuals claiming to represent Christian communities have roared in protest over JK’s statements. Through social media, they have condemned JK’s remarks made at one forum. In that forum, JK recounted how horizontal social conflicts in Poso and Ambon, between Christian and Muslim groups, were worsened by misguided religious paradigms and understandings. Muslim groups believed that killing Christians led to paradise, while Christian groups also held that killing Muslims was the path to paradise. This is the root of why JK has been attacked by a group who feel he is inciting division and cornering Christian theology. The protesting group has quoted JK’s statement incompletely. It is not linked to the event’s context, but the statement is excerpted, and that excerpt can be wildly misinterpreted. What actually happened, especially with that excerpted statement of JK? The sequence of events regarding JK’s statement is as follows. In resolving the horizontal conflicts in Poso and Ambon in 2001 and 2002, I was very actively involved in helping JK, including drafting the peace agreement between the conflicting parties. That peace document was named the Malino Declaration, as it was signed in the Malino subdistrict in South Sulawesi. Besides drafting it, I was also tasked with negotiating it with the conflicting parties. Before those parties were reconciled, JK gathered various information on the motives behind the violent conflicts in both places. The information was collected by journalists, local and national, from television and print media, grassroots organisations (anti-violence NGOs and pro-peace groups), as well as community leaders from both sides. After the information was gathered, it turned out that both the Poso and Ambon conflicts stemmed from improper religious understandings. Both conflicting parties believed that killing their opponents was the gateway to paradise. Then, ahead of the Ambon peace agreement, JK asked me to hold a press conference. He requested that I convey to the public that the conflicting parties, whether Muslim or Christian, none would enter paradise. Both would enter hell because no religion justifies murder as the path to paradise.