National religious leaders confident

National religious leaders confident
of long-lasting peace in Maluku

Muhammad Nafik
and Jupriadi
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta/Makassar

Hopes for long-lasting peace are high in Maluku despite the
presence of militia groups opposed to the recent accord to end
three years of sectarian fighting in the strife-torn islands,
national religious leaders said on Wednesday.

They were speaking to The Jakarta Post on their arrival home
from a two-day peace mission to the Maluku capital of Ambon,
where they met with local authorities, and Muslim and Christian
leaders, including those from extremist groups.

"The chance for peace is very good there because all Maluku
people are sick and tired of waging war," said Hasyim Muzadi,
chairman of the nation's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul
Ulama (NU).

He also argued that the groups who objected to the peace pact
would increasingly lose support from their compatriots as many of
them had begun to side with the pro-accord parties.

Muzadi, however, urged the government to embrace all the
groups opposing the peace pact signed by Muslim and Christian
leaders on Feb. 12, 2002, in the South Sulawesi hill resort of
Malino, for further talks so as to ensure the agreement would be
fully accepted by all Maluku people.

Muzadi said he strongly believed that the opposition groups,
including Laskar Jihad, the Islam Defenders' Front (FPI) and the
Mujahidin, as well as the Christian militia groups, would accept
the peace accord should they be sincerely involved in new talks.

"Their rejection of the peace pact is actually not so
antagonistic. It has merely been influenced by their
disappointment over their exclusion from the latest talks. They
want their existence recognized," he said.

However, Muzadi said that what the opposition groups were
demanding was not clear as regards the efforts to restore peace
in Maluku. "The only thing that is clear is their demands for
legal action against those involved in the Jan. 19, 1999, attack
on Muslims."

The incident was the first major one in the Ambon conflict and
sparked further fighting across the Maluku islands, killing some
6,000 people and forcing a half million others to flee.

Muzadi also demanded that the law be enforced against those
involved in the sectarian fighting.

The visiting delegates included Indonesian Communion of
Churches (PGI) leader Andreas Yewangoe, spokesman for the
Indonesian Bishops' Conference (KWI) Rev. Ismartono, secretary-
general of the Muhammadiyah Muslim organization Goodwil Zubir and
noted Muslim scholar Solahuddin Wahid.

Yewangoe echoed Muzadi's words, saying that all community
groups in Maluku had shown their sincere desire for peace. "We
can see that there is so much optimism, even though attempts have
been made to derail the peace there," he told the Post.

He said that these attempts could be overcome if the
government was proactive in communicating with the parties
opposed to the agreement, and was serious in taking firm action
against troublemakers.

"The Indonesian Military and the National Police should be
neutral and professional in upholding the Malino peace pact. We
have strongly impressed upon them the need to take this into
serious account," Yewangoe asserted.

Both Yewangoe and Muzadi said the peace mission delegates
backed the government's vow to take stern action against the
separatist South Maluku Republic (RMS) group should they plan to
hoist their secessionist flag on April 25.

Muzadi said the RMS was the most extreme group rejecting the
peace accord, something which, he added, the government must
seriously deal with. "This group is the source of the
disturbances in Maluku. It's the real renegade there," he added.

"If they (RMS activists) go ahead with flying their flag on
April 25, it would be the right time to crush them," he said.

Yewangoe said the separatist group was not part of the local
Christian community. "Indonesian Churches do not recognize any
group campaigning for secession from the republic. We should
distinguish between Maluku Christian followers, and RMS or FKM
(the Maluku Sovereignty Front) followers."