Poso Muslims visit predominantly Christian Tentena

Poso Muslims visit predominantly Christian Tentena

Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Poso, Sulawesi Tengah

More than three years after the signing of the Malino peace
agreement, around 150 Muslim residents of Poso town traveled some
50 kilometers south to make a historic visit to the predominantly
Christian town of Tentena, both are in Poso regency. The visit on
Thursday was apparently a move to build peace among the two
religious communities.

The visitors riding on trucks and in minibuses visited
villages where Muslim residents, including Islamic boarding
school students, were killed during conflict in the area for
three years since 1988. They were warmly greeted by Tentena
residents, mostly Christians.

Local Christians performed a traditional ceremony to welcome
their Muslim guests and expressed strong commitment to treating
them as part of their own community.

"We are brothers and must live in harmony. We have missed such
fine occasions. We thank our brothers in Poso for initiating this
historic move to build genuine peace in the once-restive
regency," said Alex Patombo, secretary of the crisis center set
up by churches to care for victims during the conflict and to
campaign for a peace agreement with the Christian community.

Burhan S. Adu, spokesman for the guests, concurred, he said
that the two religious communities should no longer sow enmity
amid efforts to build peace.

"Why does such a peaceful situation appear now, who divided
and separated us?," he asked in his address during the ceremony.

He also called on the 5,000 Christians taking refuge in
Tentena to go back to Poso town, saying that they would receive a
bigger welcome upon their arrival home.

Likewise, Alex called on Muslims taking refuge in Poso town to
return to Tentena because their safety would be guaranteed.

More than three years has passed since the Malino peace
agreement was signed by the two then-conflicting communities.

The signing of the peace agreement was mediated by
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla in the
Malino mountainous resort of South Sulawesi on Dec. 20, 2001. The
two sides agreed to end the conflict and to investigate mass
killings in numerous villages during the conflict.

Despite further fatalities over the last three years, both
sides have campaigned for peace, while the police have launched
an operation to restore law and order in the regency.

More than 2,000 people were killed and thousands of families
were displaced during the conflict which broke out following the
regental election in December 1998.

Darwis Waru who chairs the task force appreciated the
reconciliatory meeting as a preliminary move to create peace in
Poso and Morowali, a neighboring regency, which was part of Poso
up until last year.

Meanwhile, spokesman for the Central Sulawesi Police Adj. Sr.
Comr. Agus Sugianto said in Palu on Thursday that local security
authorities had decided to extend the operation to restore
security in the area, Sintuwu Maroso, for another six months in
connection with the upcoming legislative and presidential
elections.

The operation that will end on April 14 has been extended
because the situation in the two regencies remains unstable.

Agus said that another reason to extend the security operation
was to ensure that all efforts at rehabilitation would continue
safely.