Mending old mistakes

Mending old mistakes

One piece of advice pragmatists like to give is to look to the
future, and forget the past. But while in many cases this may be
good advice, other times it may be equally prudent to look to the
past for the sake of avoiding old mistakes.

Two cases proving this point are Poso and Ambon. Many older
Indonesians remember Poso as a small and peaceful harbor town
about 220 kilometers south of the Central Sulawesi provincial
capital of Palu.

That remained so until late December 1998, when a street fight
between a Muslim and a Christian youth quickly spread, and grew
into a sectarian conflict that has continued, on and off, until
the present.

Locals suspect "outside elements" of having a hand in fanning
the flames. In a comment to newspaper reporters last year Hedar
Laudjeng, the director of the Poso Legal Aid Institute (LBH),
said he suspected the ongoing conflict to be part of a grand
design drawn up by parties hungry for power, with the aid of
nonlocal instigators.

Supporting this assumption, Hedar said some time before the
first clashes occurred in Poso, leaflets instigating violence
were found circulating in both the Muslim and Christian camps --
the first of whom are found mainly the town of Poso, and the
latter in the nearby town of Tentena.

How much of this is fact and how much speculation is hard to
say. However, it cannot be denied that the potential for conflict
has always been there, close to being exploited by unscrupulous
elements for their own ends.

Besides, the fact that the strife is such a phenomenon in Poso
-- as it is in and Maluku and North Maluku provinces in general
-- lends credence to the notion that outside intervention is
involved.

Poso's 416,000 residents are divided about equally into two
large population groups, Muslims and Christians, who have
coexisted peacefully for generations.

It was the advent of modern technology, modern communications
and modern governance that ushered in meaningful change -- and
not always for the better.

Admittedly, the military-dominated New Order regime under
president Soeharto brought improvements -- especially in terms of
infrastructure.

At the same time, however, Soeharto sought to "modernize" many
local traditional institutions by replacing them with
"territorial" officers, appointed from among the military, to
take on the civilian duties of administration.

This, in effect, drastically reduced or eliminated the role of
local traditional institutions, such as those of religious and
community leaders.

Many observers attribute the nonfunctioning of these respected
traditional leaders in calming the current conflicts in several
of Indonesia's far-out provinces to this reduction of traditional
authority.

Hence, restoring the authority of the respected traditional
community leaders in their former function -- if perhaps modified
to remain in line with current conditions -- is certainly worth
undertaking. In addition, outsiders should not be allowed to
interfere in the local affairs of the regions.

The reported recurrence of renewed violence in Ambon, the
capital of Maluku, is disturbing news indeed, especially now that
peace appears to have been more or less restored in that
province. It is wise to remember, however, that all that has been
said of Poso is equally true for Ambon.

Here, too, a minor incident among residents was blown up into
full-scale communal violence that proved difficult to quell.

The respected traditional authorities of old should be given a
chance to help end the violence.

With both Idul Fitri and Christmas upon us, this is nothing
less than a God-sent opportunity to bring about an effective
reconciliation. For this effort to be successful, however, a
professional and impartial attitude in the peace effort is
essential.