Political parties told to consider power-sharing deal

Political parties told to consider power-sharing deal

Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post/Poso

To help put an end to religious violence in the area, political
parties in Poso should consider power-sharing deals when naming
candidates for the June regional elections, observers have said.

A lecturer at the School of Political Science at Tadulako
University, Irwan Waris, said political parties must not only
consider the image and credibility of candidates, but also their
religion and their positions in the religious communities.

"Poso went through a gloomy period. The conflict in 1998
started as political friction that turned into sectarian
conflict. Don't let this dark history repeat itself," Irwan told
The Jakarta Post recently.

The Poso conflict began in 1998, at a time when then Poso
regent Abdul Muin Pusadan had installed Damsik Ladjalani, who is
also Muslim, as secretary of the regency.

The decision upset parts of the community who felt the regent
was ignoring the interests of the Christian community in favor of
Muslims.

It was felt by many that if the regent and vice regent
were Muslim, the secretary of the regency should be Christian. It
was against this background that violence broke out in Poso.

On the pretext of eradicating alcohol, a number of shops and
homes were burned down. The situation was calmed for a short time
before violence returned from 1999 to 2003, claiming the lives of
about 2,000 people from both religions.

Some political parties in Poso seemed to have learned lessons
from this violence. The Golkar Party, for example, has not yet
named its candidates for regent and vice regent. The party
reportedly already has a candidate for regent, but is still
looking in the Christian community for a suitable vice regent
candidate.

However, the speaker of the Central Sulawesi Regional Council,
Aminuddin Ponulele of the Golkar Party, said faith should not be
the main consideration in naming a candidate, even though the
population of Poso is currently about 60 percent Christian and 40
percent Muslim and Hindu.

"Despite the composition of the population, that does not mean
we have to treat candidates differently. To us, the main thing is
that a candidate should be able to channel the people's
aspirations and be accepted by the people of Poso.

"It is purely coincidental that we have named a Muslim
candidate," Aminuddin told the Post. Golkar has selected Mashud
Kasim as its candidate for Poso regent.

Mashud said he had yet to make approaches to the Christian
community about working together in the June election.

However, he said eight Christian figures had asked him to set
up meetings for them with Golkar Party leaders from Poso and
Central Sulawesi.

Aminuddin said he had met with about eight Christian leaders
from Tentena to discuss Golkar's candidate for vice regent.

The Peace and Prosperity Party (PDS), a Christian dominated
party that won the most votes in the 2004 legislative election in
Poso, has yet to name its candidates for regent and vice regent.
The party has indicated it may name a Christian and Muslim
candidate in order to appeal to as many voters as possible.

"We will just wait for future developments. But we will make
efforts so both religious groups will have representatives. If
the candidate for regent is Christian, then his deputy should be
Muslim, and the other way round," Poso PDS head Karel Megati
said.