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.