Maluku dialog ends with peace commitment

LANGGUR, Maluku (JP): About 1500 representatives from Maluku at the end of a five-day reconciliation dialog here have agreed to continue peace efforts in a bid to end the prolonged sectarian clashes.

In a five-point message read out at the closing ceremony of three days of dialog here on Sunday, they also proposed that local tradition and customs be used to accommodate differences among the groups that live in the province.

"We will strengthen our resolve to really end the continuing disputes that have afflicted all of Maluku over the past two years ... We also propose the use of local traditions as a meeting point for accommodating the interests of the different groups in the province," the statement dubbed the "Langgur Message" said.

The participants also recognized that the message was only the first step on a long journey of dialog to return normality and peace to Maluku.

"We demand that all local traditional leaders, or Bapa Radja, once again take the lead ... but at the same time support state law and guarantee the acceptance of all migrants living in the province," the statement said.

The message and recommendation were agreed upon after a series of long and tense dialogs between local leaders in the province in a bid to rebuild normal life there.

The message is to be signed by all the local leaders after each group discusses the agreement further with their respective communities

The representatives from Muslim groups in Ambon at first choose to reject the agreement as an expression of their fear that if they went home with the agreement, it could endanger their lives.

"We in the local Muslim Student Association (HMI) underline that if we (unilaterally) sign up to the agreement then we could be rejected by our members," local HMI chief Hatab Kilbaren said at the forum.

The dialog also concluded that the conflict erupted because Maluku people forgot their traditional values and due to the presence of outside intervention.

There was no elaboration as to what form this outside intervention took.

During the dialog, which was organized by the Go-East Institute, the participants were divided into six groups according to their areas and each group discussed the follow-up actions that were needed to rehabilitate the province.

The rebuilding of all places of worship and enhanced cooperation between the religions should also be priorities so as to remove the trauma caused by the conflicts, along with the rehabilitation of educational facilities for the youth, the meeting concluded. (dja)