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.