Leaders confident of long-lasting peace in Maluku
Muhammad Nafik and Jupriadi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Makassar
Hopes for long-lasting peace are high in Maluku despite the presence of militia groups opposed to the recent accord to end three years of sectarian fighting in the strife-torn islands, national religious leaders said on Wednesday.
They were speaking to The Jakarta Post on their arrival home from a two-day peace mission to the Maluku capital of Ambon, where they met with local authorities, and Muslim and Christian leaders, including those from extremist groups.
"The chance for peace is very good there because all Maluku people are sick and tired of waging war," said Hasyim Muzadi, chairman of the nation's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).
He also argued that the groups who objected to the peace pact would increasingly lose support from their compatriots as many of them had begun to side with the pro-accord parties.
Muzadi, however, urged the government to embrace all the groups opposing the peace pact signed by Muslim and Christian leaders on Feb. 12, 2002, in the South Sulawesi hill resort of Malino, for further talks so as to ensure the agreement would be fully accepted by all Maluku people.
Muzadi said he strongly believed that the opposition groups, including Laskar Jihad, the Islam Defenders' Front (FPI) and the Mujahidin, as well as the Christian militia groups, would accept the peace accord should they be sincerely involved in new talks.
"Their rejection of the peace pact is actually not so antagonistic. It has merely been influenced by their disappointment over their exclusion from the latest talks. They want their existence recognized," he said.
However, Muzadi said that what the opposition groups were demanding was not clear as regards the efforts to restore peace in Maluku. "The only thing that is clear is their demands for legal action against those involved in the Jan. 19, 1999, attack on Muslims."
The incident was the first major one in the Ambon conflict and sparked further fighting across the Maluku islands, killing some 6,000 people and forcing a half million others to flee.
Muzadi also demanded that the law be enforced against those involved in the sectarian fighting.
The visiting delegates included Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) leader Andreas Yewangoe, spokesman for the Indonesian Bishops' Conference (KWI) Rev. Ismartono, secretary- general of the Muhammadiyah Muslim organization Goodwil Zubir and noted Muslim scholar Solahuddin Wahid.
Yewangoe echoed Muzadi's words, saying that all community groups in Maluku had shown their sincere desire for peace. "We can see that there is so much optimism, even though attempts have been made to derail the peace there," he told the Post.
He said that these attempts could be overcome if the government was proactive in communicating with the parties opposed to the agreement, and was serious in taking firm action against troublemakers.
"The Indonesian Military and the National Police should be neutral and professional in upholding the Malino peace pact. We have strongly impressed upon them the need to take this into serious account," Yewangoe asserted.
Both Yewangoe and Muzadi said the peace mission delegates backed the government's vow to take stern action against the separatist South Maluku Republic (RMS) group should they plan to hoist their secessionist flag on April 25.
Muzadi said the RMS was the most extreme group rejecting the peace accord, something which, he added, the government must seriously deal with. "This group is the source of the disturbances in Maluku. It's the real renegade there," he added.
"If they (RMS activists) go ahead with flying their flag on April 25, it would be the right time to crush them," he said.
Yewangoe said the separatist group was not part of the local Christian community. "Indonesian Churches do not recognize any group campaigning for secession from the republic. We should distinguish between Maluku Christian followers, and RMS or FKM (the Maluku Sovereignty Front) followers."