Poso residents push for 'community rebuilding'

Erik W., The Jakarta Post, Palu

Poso residents will likely see their desire to rebuild houses of worship in Poso by themselves realized following the government's decision to approve their plans on Monday.

Farid Husain, the second deputy assistant to the coordinating minister of social welfare, said on Monday that the government had approved the local people's plans for the reconstruction of public facilities by the local community in Poso.

"The minister (of public welfare) has stated this and we've all agreed," said Farid, who is also the head of the Malino Declaration Monitoring Team, during a meeting with the Malino Declaration Working Group and the Coordination Unit for the Realization of the Malino Declaration.

The rebuilding plan had been debated recently between the local community and the government as the two sides had differing views on how to rebuild Poso, a regency in Central Sulawesi that has been ravaged by religious conflict between Muslim and Christian residents.

Central Sulawesi's Religious Affairs Agency chief Dahlan Tangkaderi previously stated that the rebuilding should be done by the government in cooperation with local contractors.

But the residents -- Muslim and Christian -- did not agree with the plan. They wanted to rebuild the public facilities by themselves.

The local residents have been expressing their disagreement with the government's plan since January when the government announced its plan to rebuild public facilities in Poso. Poso Regent Abdul Muin Pusadan, and Poso Legislative Council Deputy Chairman Munin Liputo agreed with the local residents.

Poso Deputy Regent Abdul Malik Syahadat said that he had asked the government several times since last September that the local residents be allowed to reconstruct the public facilities by themselves.

"Maybe because we're lower officials from a regency, the higher officials just ignored us," said Malik.

But Dahlan argued that they wanted to save state funds by allowing contractors to rebuild the houses of worship. "That's in line with Presidential Decrees No. 17 and 18 which provide that such construction is to be financed by state funds," he said.

He also said that they found it difficult to find the right persons in the areas to cooperate with, while he was running out of time to have the construction carried out.

Dahlan said that the restoration of some 24 houses of worship was now nearing a conclusion.

The Working Group's secretary, Sofyan Farid Lembah, said that the construction of the 24 buildings should be audited to find out whether they had been built in accordance with the agreed plans.

He said that the audit was needed as they were rebuilt without the approval of the public.

During almost two year of conflict in the area, some 124 houses of worship, consisting of 55 mosques, 66 churches and one temple, were damaged or burnt by the warring sides.

During the first stage of rebuilding, some 24 of the destroyed religious facilities are being rebuilt at a total cost of Rp 3 billion. In the second stage, which will start this month, some 100 others will be rebuilt at a total cost of Rp 13 billion.