Maluku meeting set for Feb. 11

Maluku meeting set for Feb. 11

Jupriadi, The Jakarta Post, Makassar

The two warring factions in Maluku are to hold a
reconciliation meeting in the South Sulawesi town of Malino on
Feb. 11 and Feb. 12, 2002, to end the prolonged sectarian
conflict that has claimed more than 6,000 human lives.

Peace talks scheduled for between Feb. 5 and Feb. 7, 2002,
have been delayed for a week to give an opportunity for the two
warring factions to inform the public of the planned meeting.

"The agreement on the date for the peace talks was settled
after a tiring, long meeting with figures representing the two
factions in Ambon," Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare
Jusuf Kalla said, upon his arrival here from Ambon on Wednesday.

The minister said all 70 delegates were expected to arrive in
Makassar on Sunday and would hold a second meeting in the city to
make final preparations prior to moving to Malino for the peace
talks.

"The two warring groups will each have 35 delegates who are
considered representative," he said, citing he and Coordinating
Minister for Political and Security Affairs, who arrived in the
city on Monday, would be representing the government.

Maluku Governor Saleh Latuconsina, the South Sulawesi governor
and other Maluku officials were also scheduled to participate in
the two-day peace talks.

Malino has been chosen as a neutral place for the two warring
factions because it is relatively far from Maluku. The recent
peace talks between Poso Muslims and Christians were also held in
the town last December.

The small town, located 70 kilometers northwest of the city,
was also the location for historic talks between Indonesian and
the then-Dutch rulers in June, 1946 to discuss and prepare the
division of Indonesia's federal states.

Asked about the main issues to be discussed at the peace
talks, Minister Kalla said the meeting's main agenda was to
discuss how to stop the violence and end the conflict.

He acknowledged that he had yet to have his own formula for
the meeting because the conflict was far more complicated than in
Poso, because it was ongoing and had claimed in total around
6,000 human lives.

He called on everybody in Maluku to fully support the meeting
to end the conflict and let the province catch up with the rest
of the country.

"If the conflict cannot be solved in the next year or so, we
will loose Maluku and the province known for its rich natural
resources will suffer a major setback," he said.

Asked about the presence of Laskar Jihad in the peace talks,
Kalla said it should not be questioned because they were not part
of the problem in Maluku.

"If Laskar Jihad's presence in the meeting is questioned,
Muslims in Maluku will also question the presence of South Maluku
Society (RMS) and the Maluku Sovereignty Forum (FKM) in the
province," he said.

Separately, Governor Latuconsina called on the people in the
province to support the planned Malino peace talks and to end the
prolonged conflict.

"All sides should give their full political support for the
peace talks to end the prolonged enmity. It would be quite
strange if there were groups who opposed the reconciliation
meeting," he said.

Some 30 Muslim Maluku students held a demonstration in the
city on Tuesday to oppose the meeting, which they said would not
solve the problem.

According to them, the government should first take strict
action against RMS and FKM, which are alleged to have aggravated
the conflict.