Maluku 2006: Hope amid the confusion

Maluku 2006: Hope amid the confusion

Muhammad Azis Tunny, Ambon

Following the religious and communal conflicts in Maluku that
erupted in January 1999, clashes that escalated until the Maluku
peace agreement was reached in February 2002. However, the
euphoria of peace did not settle all the remaining sensitive
issues among the community.

These issues involve not only civil affairs such as houses,
land, plantations and other property being seized or destroyed
during the conflict, but also the afflicted collective
psychology, which has not yet fully recovered. Longstanding
grudges, suspicion, resentment, hatred and enmity have never been
systematically dealt with.

The other post-conflict problem is the segregation of the
people according to their religion. Muslims stay in their areas,
Christians in theirs. The separation remains despite official
statements that Maluku is already peaceful. The trauma of
conflict lingers under such division.

So far, the emotional wounds they sustain have only been
healed by natural means at the initiative of local communities on
the basis of kinship (known as pela-gandong). This ancestral
tradition attaches significance to relationships of common
descent regardless of religions. Pela-gandong also implies
tolerant coexistence amid different faiths, without any attempt
to motivate conversion.

In Ambon, what is called the specter of April has been
haunting local citizens for the last few years. By April 25, the
anniversary of the self-styled Republic of South Maluku (RMS),
provocative rumors continue to spread, thus arousing suspicion
and enmity between the rival religious groups. Most RMS activists
are seen as Christian, while most Muslims that now live in Maluku
tend to identify with nationalism and harbor a distaste for
separatism. The situation on April 25, 2005 was better than in
previous years, though.

As revealed by an RMS member, who was arrested recently, he
joined the organization out of disappointment with the Indonesian
government.

Such dissatisfaction, especially with the New Order regime
(1965 to 1998), has been found not only among Maluku people but
also among communities in other regions. This feeling has
inspired them to break away from the unitary state of the
Republic of Indonesia, as is the case, Riau, Papua and Aceh.

The struggle of RMS activists in Maluku is waged through the
Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM), which aims at gaining Maluku's
freedom. Though some FKM figures have been captured and tried,
the possibility of FKM launching its activities in 2006 remains,
because it is highly interested in flying RMS flags at home and
abroad.

Though rather unrealistic, FKM leaders are still
enthusiastically campaigning for the freedom of Maluku. In fact,
they have difficulty in determining RMS' de facto territory and
loyal people.

In 2006, the Indonesian government's stance toward this
movement should not necessarily be as dramatic as in previous
years, because FKM and RMS networks are actually not so solid. It
means that RMS should not be seen as a formidable force, but it
should never be underestimated either, because any negligence may
allow them to trigger another conflict in Maluku.

Maluku has also become a hotbed of terrorism. A number of
terrorist attacks in Maluku this year were a setback for the
police. However, they did arrest some of the suspected
perpetrators of the assaults on two mobile brigade (Brimob) posts
in Loki village, Western Seram regency, on May 16, 2005. The
armed raids killed seven, including five Police Brigade (Brimob)
members from East Kalimantan.

Without any intervention by or supply of new actors, Maluku
may be relatively more secure in 2006 than its situation this
year. However, several terrorist suspects remain at large.

Police investigations into the Brimob attacks in Loki promptly
uncovered the terrorists' identities. They were known to be
linked with diverse militant groups in Indonesia, including a
group in Poso.

Though not all the networks of militants have been laid bare,
some important leaders are being hunted down, like Arsyad and
Batar, who are believed by the police to be the masterminds of a
series of terrorist acts. The investigation of some suspects is
gradually unveiling the complex layers of militants in Maluku and
Indonesia.

The security institutions, especially the intelligence agency,
should maximize its operations in 2006 because the strength of
terrorism is in fact not found in its sophisticated arms or
combat skills, but rather in the way of thinking of militant
activists. Based on terrorist suspects' confessions, before being
trained in combat or bomb making, they were brainwashed by their
group leaders.

The government should cooperate with religious institutions in
straightening out the concept of jihad (holy war), because all
suspects have always claimed that their action is motivated by
the spirit of jihad. This approach is very essential to adopt,
otherwise militant groups will easily recruit new cadres to form
new generations of terrorists.

The protracted conflict in Maluku has made thousands of
families homeless. From one deadline to another, the government
has failed to solving the problem of displaced families. If, in
2006, it remains unsettled, their long disappointment is likely
to be provoked into mass fury, and unless carefully handled, they
may resort to desperate actions in protest of the government.

The method of refugee re-settlement gives the impression that
the government is merely being expedient. There has been no
repatriation of refugees to areas with majorities of other
faiths.

This way of refugee handling has further affirmed the
separation of settlements based on religion, which opens the
possibility of creating seeds of conflict in the absence of
assimilation attempts.

The Maluku provincial administration is determined to complete
its reconstruction and recovery program, in view of the strategic
position of 2006 as the year of Maluku's recovery.

"The year 2006 is a period of reawakening and Maluku should
rise to keep pace with current developments so as to surmount its
different issues and become on a par with other regions," said
Maluku Governor Karel Albert Ralahalu.

The writer is a correspondent for The Jakarta Post.