Muhammadiyah to boost peace in conflict areas
Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
The country's second largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, is to send peace advocacy and mediation teams to a number of conflict areas in a bid to accelerate peace the processes and recovery there.
The teams' peace missions will cover Aceh, Ambon in Maluku, Poso in Central Sulawesi, and Papua, places where conflicts have claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Muhammadiyah chairman Ahmad Syafii Maarif will personally lead the peace advocacy and mediation teams for Papua and Aceh, while deputy chairman Din Syamsuddin will lead the teams for Poso and Ambon.
The Aceh, Ambon, and Poso teams will depart by the end of March, while the team designated to Papua will start its work at the beginning of April.
Each team will comprise five or six members, Syafii told a press conference on Sunday before closing a three-day national meeting of Muhammadiyah leaders at its headquarters here.
The peace mission was the major result of the meeting, which was attended by all 30 chairmen of Muhammadiyah's provincial executive boards, including Imam Suja' of Aceh, Kasibi of Papua, Idrus Tahute of Maluku, and Tjatjuk Thaha of Central Sulawesi.
According to Muhammadiyah secretary-general Haedar Nashir, the organization had conducted a series of initial observations in the four conflict-ridden areas one month ago and had also revealed the results of these at a seminar held earlier this month in Jakarta.
"Now we have thoroughly discussed it during the meeting with all the provincial chairmen of Muhammadiyah. We also discussed potential conflicts in other parts of the country," said Haedar.
The dispatch of advocacy and mediation teams followed the action already taken by Muhammadiyah to help promote peace in the conflict areas.
Based on the results of the meeting and the teams' field trips, Muhammadiyah proposed a series of meetings from the national down to the lowest level involving all elements in the community, including figures from other religions.
"The aim is to build a new culture, the culture of integration and peace," Haedar said.