Military, police 'neutrality' key to Maluku peace

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.