Tears for Indonesia's Lost Paradise
Finally Indonesia's central government is getting to grips with the religious violence which has devastated its eastern spice islands or Moluccas for 18 months. It has imposed a state of civil emergency, but based on an old and repressive security law dating from 1959. Last year under former President B.J. Habibie a replacement law was passed by parliament, one which many analysts see as far more suitable for the new, democratic Indonesia. But it was stopped dead in its tracks the day it was passed by massive and violent demonstrations. It has still not been brought into force nine months later.
The state of civil emergency that came in at midnight on the morning of June 27 comes far too late for thousands of victims of the Moluccan conflict. Hundreds of people, probably thousands in fact, are dead. Thousands more have been forced from their homes to a miserable existence in refugee tents.
The pain already suffered is incalculable. As Indonesian poet Sutardji Calzoum Bachri put it in one of his poems, the country's sovereign territory has been soiled with tears. Finally, however, there is some kind of firm action from the central government. Indonesians need to support this state of emergency however they best can. But they must keep reminding their government that it must be enforced delicately and such a move cannot be enforced willy-nilly in any place for any reason. But in the case of the Moluccas, the justifications are already easily strong enough.
Why is this state of civil emergency so important for the spice islands? Why is it so late in coming? Killings on religious lines first broke out there in January last year. A Christian bus driver native to Ambon quarrelled with a Bugis youth, a Moslem. Very few even remember now who these two people were. Their names might have been Jacob, Usman, Salim, Yohanes—anything. A small quarrel between two individuals was the evil seed for wider fighting. In the early days it was a small fracas, then it got wider, then it got wider again and now this civil war already cannot be controlled by the Moluccans themselves. If only this could have been handled earlier, firm action taken against the driver and the Bugis youth, firm action taken against fighters, the situation might never have got this bad. What is happening now is because there was no quick solution. The cycle of violence keeps getting bigger and more and more bloody.
The law has been violated by everyone. This is a most important lesson from this conflict, in which the central government has repeatedly said: the Moluccas issue must be solved by Moluccans.
It is patently clear to the Moluccans themselves that they cannot solve their problems themselves any more. President Abdurrahman Wahid's statement calling for them to do so is another reflection of the 'hands off' attitude of the central government. In a conflict between religions such as this, you cannot expect those who are involved to solve it. They need a mediator who is fair, and has authority and credibility. And such a mediator is usually an authority or organisation at a higher level. If in Indonesia's case the problem is at the provincial level, the obvious one to play the role of mediator is the central government.
Let's take an analogy—the conflict between the component states of the former Yugoslavia. It was only resolved by higher authorities—in this case the European Union and the United Nations. Later even an international court was organized to try cases of human rights violations, whoever carried them out. The law was upheld. The United States' statement that it is prepared to act as mediator in this conflict sounds a reasonable offer. Nor can anyone blame the United Nations Secretary General for being concerned. If Indonesians are offended by the US offer, and don't want foreign countries to meddle in their internal affairs, then Indonesia must handle the issue properly.
It is the Indonesian nation itself that must stop the flow of blood in the Moluccas, the people who live between Sabang and Merauke. They cannot once again just leave it to the Moluccans themselves. Of course the civil emergency alone will not be enough. It is just a first step. Next the civil emergency authority must become a just mediator. Then every senior official in the Moluccas who has been in office since this conflict started must be replaced by new faces. The task of the new authority is first and foremost to separate the sides in conflict, to place the region's Christians and Moslems behind clear demarcation lines. They may have to be relocated in areas with well-defined boundaries. This is probably difficult and will take time.
In the past the Christian and Moslem populations were mixed. There were even family blood ties between many of them. A lot of those ties have been severely weakened, since they began killing each other. Just like members of a family who are fighting, the first thing a mediator must do is to separate them. Only after they have been separated, do we ask each side what the problem is all about, what their demands and requests are. From there we may find a way to solve the problem. Overcoming deeply felt grudges and bitterness is going to take a very long time.
Separating the two sides is a way to stop the blood flowing. After this a dialogue must be developed to lead to reconciliation. The security forces can mix with both sides, become mediators, at the same time seize weapons still in the hands of the populace. But the security forces must not join either side. The "peace forces" sent by the central government must be fair, not take sides, and be respected by both sides. And only then can they become effective mediators. Indonesia must finish off the Moluccan tragedy in a spirit of unity, as the task of the whole nation, not just the relatively few from those distant bloodstained islands themselves. (CM)