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.