Muhammadiyah, NU to foster peace in Maluku

Muhammadiyah, NU to foster peace in Maluku

Tiarma Siboro and Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With the shaky implementation of the Malino peace accord for
Maluku, the country's two largest Muslim organizations plan to
foster ever-lasting peace for the region, which has been racked
by inter-religious conflict for the past three years.

The Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah said separately on
Monday that they would send a joint team to Maluku to settle the
three-year-long conflict between Muslims and Christians.

The two organizations, however, will differ in their approach
to implement the peace plan.

Muhammadiyah chairman Syafii Ma'arif said that the best way to
solve the conflict in Maluku was to implement the Malino accord,
which was signed by both Muslim and Christian representatives in
the resort hill town of Malino, South Sulawesi, on Feb. 12.

"It is true that the Muhammadiyah and NU will send a joint
team to Maluku to see the security development there over the
Malino peace agreement," he said.

He said the Muhammadiyah would help persuade Muslim groups
opposing the agreement, such as the Laskar Jihad, to accept it
and move toward peace.

"Those opposed to the agreement are narrow-minded. They don't
want to see long-lasting peace achieved in Maluku," he said.

Toward that end, Syafii said his organization would hold a
meeting with representatives of Muslims and Christians on
Thursday at its office in Kwitang, Central Jakarta, to find the
best ways to implement the Malino agreement.

Coordinating Minister for Peoples' Welfare Jusuf Kalla, who
initiated the Malino peace talks, is scheduled to take part in
the meeting.

Unlike the Muhammadiyah, the NU, according to deputy chairman
Solahuddin Wahid, said that it would not rule out an alternative
solution other than the peace agreement, which Solahuddin
criticized as ineffective.

Solahuddin, also known as Gus Solah, said that "instant peace
agreements" among warring groups in Maluku would fail to create
real peace for the people.

"We appreciate all the efforts pursued by the government to
restore peace in these two troubled regions. Nevertheless, such
an instant formula in resolving the problems will be fruitless as
it will only be seen as a government program instead of a result
of people's aspirations," he said.

Solahuddin made the remarks after a meeting between several NU
executives with Laskar Jihad chairman Djafar Umar Thalib at the
NU headquarters on Jl. Kramat Raya, Central Jakarta.

Laskar Jihad has been accused by the Christian side in Maluku
of worsening the conflict by sending its recruits to the region.

Gus Solah said the meeting with Laskar Jihad was part of NU's
efforts to listen to all the aspirations from the groups involved
in the conflict. The NU, he said, would hold other meetings with
all those concerned, including the government and a number of
Christian groups.

After a three-year religious conflict in Maluku that has
claimed the lives of at least 6,000 people, the government last
month initiated peace talks in Malino, South Sulawesi, between
the representatives of Muslims and Christians from Maluku.

The talks ended with a peace agreement signed on Feb. 12 by
representatives of both sides.

The implementation of the accord for Maluku, however, remains
shaky as a number of groups, from both Muslim and Christian
sides, have openly aired their opposition.