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)