Muhammadiyah to boost peace in conflict areas

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.