Maluku provocateurs 'must be punished'
Maluku provocateurs 'must be punished'
LANGGOR, Maluku (JP): While expressing confidence that they
can solve the prolonged sectarian clashes themselves, Maluku
people on Friday asked the central government to take stern
measures against parties that continue to provoke them.
"Never doubt the intention of the local people because we are
ready for dialog and to forget our grievances and forgive each
other.
"But, the government should find and eliminate the groups that
keep on provoking us to fight each other," Z.J. Aputuley, a local
Christian leader from Ambon, said in the second day of a three-
day dialog here.
He said the Maluku conflicts could not be considered as
sectarian unrest.
"But, the presence of the unidentified outsiders had worsened
the condition in the province, especially in Ambon mayoralty," he
said.
Aputuley said Maluku people of both Muslim and Christian
religions can sit together and join hands to convince both their
followers to move on and forget the hatred.
"We are more than willing to create peace. Just give us time,"
he said.
"The prolonged conflict is not our fault, but the central
government's. Why don't they move fast and prevent the
provocateurs from interfering in our lives. They must uphold the
law immediately," he added.
In the dialog organized by the Go East Institute, some
participants accused certain local leaders, non-governmental
organizations, certain religious groups and security officers as
outsiders that continually provoke people.
A local Muslim leader in Ambon, Syaiful Achmad Kaplele, shared
Aputuley's statement that people from both warring camps had
agreed to stop all anarchic activities and to rebuild their
tradition of tolerance, called the Pela tradition.
"For all of our lives, we have gone through various kinds of
fighting. We have always managed to quell the fighting by
pledging in the Pela traditional ritual that we'll never commit
the same mistakes again," he said.
"So, if these provocateurs are eliminated and followers of
both religions continue to have dialogs, this conflict will
eventually be over," Kaplele said, but declined to mention the
groups that should be eliminated from Maluku.
He underlined the importance for local Maluku people to
exercise the Pela tradition again as it was the only way to
create peace in the troubled province.
"Meanwhile, the authority should be more firm in dealing with
the provocateurs," he said.
Some 1,500 people representing different groups around Maluku
province attended the dialog, aimed at finding a solution for the
prolonged conflict in the province.
In the discussion, the participants were divided into six
groups, according to their areas of origin -- Ambon, North
Maluku, West Southeast Maluku, Central Maluku, Buru Island and
Kei and Aru islands. (dja)