JP/20/ICHSAN

Ichsan Malik fights for peace

A'an Suryana The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Ambon city was like a ghost town a year after major sectarian violence erupted in 1999.

Markets and streets were deserted, ruined buildings could be seen down nearly every street and the sound of weapons and bombs could be heard sporadically across the city. Thousands of people had been killed in the year-long conflict and hundreds of thousands more displaced.

Ever since, the historical city that was once the thriving, affluent hub of the spice trade, has been divided into two distinct sectors.

Muslims on one side and Christians on the other.

Everybody stayed in their respective neighborhoods, armed with spears, machetes and rifles. Any outsider was met with great suspicion.

Amid this dangerous situation, back in April 2000, Ichsan Malik, a lecturer and a humanitarian activist from Bandung, West Java, visited the riot-torn city, at the invitation of the Hualopu Foundation.

Ichsan was born on September 6, 1957 in the West Java capital. He graduated from the school of social psychology at the University of Indonesia, and is currently teaching psychology at the university. The father of two children also is the head of the Titian Perdamaian Institute, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that focuses on promoting peace nationwide.

Upon his arrival in tense Ambon, the devout Muslim soon became involved in intense discussions with Christians in the foundation on the measures that should be taken to stop the ongoing bloodshed between Muslims and Christians in Maluku.

Ichsan, as a Muslim and a non-Maluku resident, also visited other groups of intellectuals and NGOs in the city, both Muslim and Christian, to hold similar discussions.

He recalled later that the toughest visit was to Saparua Island near Ambon, where most of the residents are fundamentalist Christians. It was, to say the least, a very courageous move for a Muslim to stroll down the streets in Saparua.

Ichsan, did meet strong resistance when he held a meeting with Saparua leaders, including the church leaders. In a meeting in one church, three of 10 pastors became angry during the meeting, while saying that a peace process was impossible. They slammed the door and abandoned the meeting.

"How can we rely on a newcomer, and moreover a Muslim?" Ichsan quoted them as saying, as he recalled in an article in a book entitled "Baku Bae (Enough is Enough)."

Despite the pain, he called it the birth of the Baku Bae movement, one that is spurring a bottom-up peace process in Maluku.

After his now historic meetings in 2000, Ichsan and other NGO activists intensified gatherings and meetings among Ambon Muslim and Christian leaders, because he saw that the government and security officials could not do much to stop the bloodshed or mitigate the hatred.

Ichsan and friends approached key leaders in Maluku to facilitate a peace process.

After another round of meetings with Muslim and Christian leaders in Jakarta and Bali, progress was slowly, but surely, being made as the understanding of the peace process increased.

After much debate and some research, the religious leaders eventually concluded that the conflicts in Ambon were not created by local people.

The spirit of the Baku Bae movement was publicly promoted in from January 2001 onward, with the focus of the campaign on stopping the violence in Maluku, said Ichsan.

After that, Ichsan and friends from the Baku Bae movement embarked on a wider campaign. They met government officials, the President and even went abroad to meet European legislators, especially in the Netherlands, where a sizable group of Maluku people have emigrated and stayed for years.

"But, we had to pay the price, because some of the warring groups in Maluku could not accept our movement. Stones were hurled at the houses of Baku Bae activists; others received death threats so that they had to hide for a while. But, we have unfurled the sail. We have arrived at a point of no return," said Ichsan.

The movement might not be effective in many cases, but it, along with the government brokered pace pact in Malino, South Sulawesi in 2001, has contributed to the relative peace in Maluku today, he said.

Despite all the pain and hard work, Ichsan recalled that his involvement in the movement was personally and intellectually rewarding.

"I have read many books on conflict resolution. But, when I first went to Ambon and took part in resolving conflicts there, I felt like I knew nothing. The actual situation was very different from what it says in the textbooks," he said.

His long involvement in the Maluku conflict has also raised a new awareness within him. "Law enforcement is hard to achieve, because the security forces and government take sides in the conflict. People do not trust them. There are no public leaders that people can trust to mediate the conflict, like Nelson Mandela in Africa. In the absence of these ingredients for conflict resolution, people have to take their own initiatives for peace," said Ichsan.

In this light, Ichsan introduced a new concept in conflict resolution, known as Tali Air (water conduits). The concept starts from an understanding that every society is bestowed with local wisdom. This wisdom is akin to the water spring that, through the help of water conduits, in this case roots, supports the life of grass (harmony) on the surface.

Conflicts may burn the grass down, but grass will always regrow, thanks to the help of the water conduits that hold and distribute water to the grass and trees above.

"We continuously work to enhance capacity-building of the Tali Air -- the intellectuals, youth leaders and others -- so that they can help promote peace and make the grass regrow, regardless of how much fire has burned the grass," said Ichsan.

Learning from the Maluku experience, Ichsan is trying to extend peace to other regions. He has established a civilian peacekeeping team that will help "the grass regrow" not only in Maluku, but across the nation.

"Indonesia is a heterogeneous country and prone to communal conflicts. We have to contribute something to peace in the country.

"If not us, who will?" said Ichsan.