Military, police 'neutrality' key to Maluku peace

Oktavianus Pinontoan, The Jakarta Post, Ambon

Visiting religious leaders called on the local military and police to remain neutral and professional as a preliminary requirement for helping to end the prolonged sectarian conflict in the province.

"The military and police must be able to remain neutral and act professionally in order to create a feeling of safety among the people who have suffered from the conflict for such a long time," Hasyim Muzadi, who led the group of religious leaders, said during a meeting with Christian figures and adherents in the Maranatha Church in the city on Tuesday.

Hasyim, also chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), was referring to the absence of security force neutrality in handling the conflict, the frequent clashes among military units and the police, and the shortage of law enforcers, all of which were factors that had prolonged the conflict that had claimed more than 6,000 lives since Jan. 19, 1999.

So far, a great deal of law violations among civilians and security personnel could not be processed because of the shortage of prosecutors and judges.

The group of religious leaders, representing the country's largest Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) and the Indonesian Bishops' Conference (KWI), undertook the peace mission to meet with Muslim and Christian leaders, and their followers in the provincial capital.

The religious leaders also held a meeting with Muslim leaders and followers at the Al-Fatah Mosque in the city.

In the afternoon, the religious leaders held a joint meeting with both Muslim and Christians to identify the problems that needed serious attention from the government to restore security and order, and create peace in the province.

Hasyim also called on Muslim and Christian people not to be suspicious of one another or to stereotype each other, two attitudes that needed to be abandoned in order to promote religious tolerance among local people.

Solahuddin Wahid, former president Abdurrahman Wahid's brother, concurred and said Maluku Christians were not supporters of the South Maluccan Republic (RMS) secessionist group, and Maluku Moslems were not supporters of Laskar Jihad.

Rev. Ismartono, spokesman for the KWI (not chairman of KWI as reported on Tuesday), said both Muslim and Christian leaders and followers shared the view that the government had to be more serious in handling the conflict, which had brought such grief to local people.

"People from both sides want the decisionmakers and security authorities to be more serious in enforcing the Malino peace agreement so as to end the conflict," he told The Jakarta Post by telephone on Tuesday.

He also said both sides were unanimous in their view that despite the conflict, the province had to remain an integral part of the unitary Indonesian state.

According to Ismartono, religious leaders at the national and local levels should promote among their followers the appropriate way to practice their faith inclusively.