---------------------------------------------------------- FREE for JOIN Indonesia Daily News Online via EMAIL: go to: http://www.indo-news.com/subscribe.html - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - Dengan mengClick banner sponsor anda menyumbang Rp. 1000,- untuk HomePage IndoNews. ---------------------------------------------------------- From: Joshua Latupatti Dear Administrator, This is an urgently important message. This may look like one sided complaint, but this is the truth that everybody ought to know. Those from south-east Sulawesi will be back in Ambon shortly, but things aren t settled yet. This message may stop the authority and politicians acting like many Jimmy Carter s, but thinking about their career and position, from talking nonsense. Help Ambon to realise the basic problem, so it can be solved for a permanent peace in the area, please? Many thanks and appreciation. THINGS UNDERLYING "AMBON TRAGEDY" Greetings to all, There has been many talks between Moslems and Christians; between the youth organisations, between the local chiefs (cultural chiefs), between both sides and the government and military, trying tocome up with the solutions for what so called Ambon Tragedy , but no one seems to have the courage to dig out all the roots of the problems. How can anybody go about healing such a decease not knowing what cause that decease? Without no intention at all to ignore the influence of the political game of the nation, this paper is to discover some of the local reasons behind the tragedy, that might be a useful contribution to the peace process. These following points were collected informally from local public of Ambon and surrounding areas, and therefore may be called the roots underlying Ambon Tragedy . CULTURAL HISTORY For hundreds of years, Ambon or Central Maluku in general, had had its own local ruling system known as kingdoms (usually small) and ruled by kings . There has been many of small kingdoms grown and lived even when the Europeans were here. According to culture, only certain families amongst many in a kingdom that have the right to the throne . People will pick the best man or woman from these certain families to be their king or queen, through a fair election. Though a kingdom may be of a small number of people or a small village (where houses are), it usually has a large cultural territory called tanah adat or dusun (cultural land). This land is usually divided into two large sections, shared by the king and his family, and by the people, besidesof each private properties owned by the king and the people. Many kingdoms were related to each other trough a cultural system of brotherhood, called Pela and Gandong . Pela, which is a vow of brotherhood , can be held among Moslems or Christians kingdoms, or between the two (which is mostly the case), for a reason such as had helped each other to overcome a problem. Gandong, which is the strongest bound, existed naturally since two or more kingdoms descended from one patriarch. In most cases, Gandong exists between Moslem and Christian kingdoms. When the people of other tribes from other parts of Indonesia, such as the people from Buton (South-east Sulawesi) and Bugis-Makassar (South Sulawesi) first came to Ambon and other parts of Central Maluku, they usually reported to local kings of the areas where they landed, and asked for a permit to stay. They were not only welcomed but lended a piece of land to live on. Even though these people are all Moslems, there was no matter whether they had landed on a territory of a Moslem or a Christian kingdom. Soon, they became part of the local economic and cultural life. This does not mean that they were included in either Pela or Gandong, but they were able to share the climate of Pela and Gandong of any kingdom where they lived. They had build their own Mosques and embraced their beliefs and they were in harmony with the local cultural and religious life (that may not be mentally fully understood). Bare in mind that most of these people lived in country sides (on the hills) as farmers, few on the seashores as fiehermen, and very few near the town of Ambon as workers or market sellers. THE DIMINISHING OF THE PRECIOUS SPIRIT OF CULTURAL LIFE As the time passed, Ambon and Central Maluku became packed with many more people from the above tribes or other ones. This time, they were not only described as people looking for a new land to live, but as merchants, government officials and militaries. As these new comers reunited or made contact with the former, then we could see a sign of something has changed with the former. In 1979, the government of Indonesia passed a law concerning local government system which somewhat reduced the cultural strength of local kingdoms . The term a kingdom was reduced to a village (desa or kelurahan) and a king was then just a chief of village (kepala desa or lurah). Although the local people were determined to keep on using the terms kingdom and king , they realised that these were gradually losing their cultural meanings or consequences. The recent changes in national political atmosphere may have also made its contributions to the diminishing valuable spirit of the cultural life of Ambon and Central Maluku. It started when Soeharto, the former president of Indonesia, decided to move one leg of his political tripod to Moslem power (the others were Golkar Party containing all governmental employees and military, and businessmen). This new political direction of Soeharto was then embraced by Habibie, who was chosen to be the minister of research and technology at that time) by promoting and spreading his concept of 85 to 15 ratio (whichis the ratio of Moslem and non-Moslem population in Indonesia) in the People representative and the People Assembly, in the Cabinet and in all governmental position. This concept may soon rest comfortably in the minds of most Moslems be an alarm for others, and in turn, heated up the competitions between the two. ROOTS OF CONFLICTS As the term, roots may sounds, it contains many hairline size of problems that criss-cross one another, and then piles up as big as thea bark of a tree itself. Not all of these hair are to be brought up here, but on is free to name any other that is related or based on the ones mentioned here. This is not in any way intended to exaggerate the the issue, but it has to be identified so it can be solved . As the kingdom and king has gradually lost their meanings, there is a chance that anybody other than the specific local families can be elected as the chief of the village providing he or she has stayed in the area for at least two years. In addition to this, the cultural land of any kingdom (now village) can be taken over by the government for the reasons such as to be used for public needs or purposes. Local people have been very concerned about these realities. More to that, many new comers were no longer in the habit of reporting to and asking for a permit to stay from the local cultural authority and most of them could even pursued and owned a certificate on a piece of land that was formerly described as borrowed land . This could be done due to the fact that the related government officials were either from the same tribes or the same religion (remember the latest part of the cultural history and the changes in political direction). Many of these people (Buton, Bugis and Makassar) were no longer living on the perimeter of Ambon and Central Maluku, but due to their occupations, started to filled up the parts closer to the central area of towns. They inhabited the market area, the coastal area, and together with the local Moslems, build their own communities around town. As anybody can see, these areas usually became packed and unsanitary. People could no longer leave their doors open even if they were at home. Many elders who used to be proud of Ambon as a sweet Ambon (physically) started to ask questions, such as "What has happened to Ambon?" "Where are those beaches and the blue water I used to see as moved along the road of Ambon?" "Why are there so many thieves around?" These facts have brought abut uneasiness on people. Influenced by Soehartos new political movement and Habibies concept or 85 to 15 ratio, the governmental positions such as governor, mayor, head of departments, or even a position in an office, that was formerly not such a big deal, has became a stage of tense competition between Moslems and Christians. This results in a condition that if the governor is Moslem, then one should expect to see more Moslems on the higher rank provincial government official positions. This tight competition has in fact destroyed the spirit of Pela and Gandong. It seems that no one cares nor respects the feeling of ones Pela or Gandong anymore, as soon as one entered the competition. As an example, no one would dare to expect that the former governor who was Moslem, could be that rude, that he ordered to bring down the chime of a church near his residence, for it is said to have disturbed his sleep in Sunday mornings. That kind of action annoyed Christians a lot. Related to that, there has rarely been any chief of police, army,etc., in this area that is Christian. One may not able to see what is going on in the local military such as in the army, since they were not seen very much in town. But it was clearly noticed that the local Christian policemen slowly disappeared from the streets of Ambon, replaced by Moslem policemen from South Sulawesi. While it bothered the local Christians, it has influenced the street . A large number of drivers from South Sulawesi had started to take over this job from local drivers. The owners of commercial buses who are Moslems, and are mostly Haji (who has done the pilgrimage to Makkah) from South Sulawesi were no longer interested in hiring the local Christian drivers. Many tukang becak (commercial tricycle drivers) that are mostly from South and South-east Sulawesi, have also changed their attitudes. Who were used to be polite drivers, became rude and sometimes scary. They would leave without saying a word or even swear on anybody (usually women) who dared to bargain. They could drop you at a wrong place and forced you to pay fully (mostly happened to women). They started to drive in parallel, blocking the road, and would not let any traffic passed by unless were horned many times, or they did so by swearing on the one who horned them. This situation has also ringed an alarm on local people s ears, as it was shared among them. It was learned by the local Christians that there has been around 600 churches that were destroyed or burned down, and they got no words of sympathy whatsoever from their Moslem Pela nor Gandong. Instead, a rich Haji from South Sulawesi (Bugis) had hired people to burn a church in a Ambon. Fortunately, they could only reach the elementary school near the church, and five classrooms were destroyed. This fire was then identified as caused by short electric circuit by forensic team of police from Ujung Pandang (south Sulawesi). Has there ever been one of these cases brought to court or one of the church vandalizers put in jail? No! Some of the Moslems had beaten a Catholic Pastor who was then hospitalised, and the students of a Moslem Institute (STAIN) had also destroyed a pig farm belongs to the local Christians. A Christian university lecturer was killed by a Moslem Bugis man in the predominant Moslem area, and you will have to run like hell to save your life, if you happen to hit with your vehicle a goat in this area. Many houses of local Christians who lived near or among Moslems (mainly from south and south-east Sulawesi) had been thrown with rocks almost every night for many nights, while those Moslems who were among Christians were kindly treated. Would these all passed bye unnoticed by local Christians? There has been a number of cases where young Christians were teased by young Moslems saying, for example, "Take that book ( the Bible) and throw the mangoes". Moslems high school students had attack those of Christians, by moving closer to that Christian high school. Some Moslems originally from Arab, who are considered more superior by the local Moslem had been the source of conflicts between young people of both sides in many occasions. The 19 January tragedy even started by a Bugis man who threatened a local Christian bus driver with a knife, asking for money. The prayers in Mosques that were usually short and soft, had been modified with a long introduction with the voice (of loud speakers) that is annoyingly loud. Surrounding Christians could hardly rest after work, nor had a good sleep in the morning (starts at 5.00 a.m.). More to that, their Friday Preaches which were also went through loud speakers, often contains such materials that ridiculed Christian faith. Many Moslems literature that ridicule Christians faith were freely sold or distributed in bookstores. Christians children had come to ask their parents or Sunday school teacher, if it s true that The Bible is wrong, Jesus didn t die on the cross, and etc., as their Moslem schoolmates said. This raised question among Christians. "What had really been taught at the informal and formal Moslem education, while Christian children were taught to love even their enemies?" "Were the MoslemPela and Gandong also involved in this kind of teachings?" What could be said concerning Christians in Ambon is that they were too patient. It is very much in doubt that any Christian from Ambon can survive with such misbehaviour living among Moslems, for example, in Ujung Pandang, South Sulawesi. While the destruction of about 600 churches was not enough for Christians to react violently, what would happen it was just 10 mosques destroyed by Christians? Would any Moslems be calm still hearing their faith ridiculed publicly through a church s loud speakers? Christians in Ambon had swallowed all for many years and it was not enough for them to break their patient. This kind of patient and silence had been wrongly interpreted as a weakness or as a sign of being conquered. Such an interpretation, which was a huge mistake, was suspected to be one of the elements behind the 19 January aggression by Moslems, as it was recorded that "in a couple of hours, Ambon will under our control". With the burning of several Christian houses and a Church at two separate places at almost the same time, then there was no choice left for Christians but to react. This reaction, or explosion as it may have called, would not in any way be a surprised to anyone who realised that it came out with all things that had been swallowed for many years. In turn, this kind of unexpected reaction from Christians has been used to accuse them for "having been prepared for the attack". In fact, a team of Moslem lawyers had been assembled for what so called "the bloody Lebaran" , six days before the 19 of January. Without pointing out such points above, and many others, "from both sides" , and try to sort them out, all peace talks may end up in "a time bomb kind of peace", waiting for the next bigger explosion. Just bare in mind that the present quietness in Ambon and surrounding areas was merely due to the presence and the hard work of military. Who could guarantee that there will still be "peace" if all the military personnel are pulled out from this area? Let s get together and talk frankly, that we can come up with an honest answer so that God may help us to restore the peace in Ambon and the surrounding areas, permanently. JL. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 31 Mar 1999 jam 08:05:13 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
