NU, Muhammadiyah to help 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 and Poso 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.