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| Maluku |
| 07.19.04 (8:48 pm) [edit] |
Its been a long time since I have blogged. Work has been crazy as usual. It is easier to work hard without getting tired if there is some clear goal that you are aiming for. In my case it is to convince HQ to keep the Indonesian office open and to convince them to allow my family to come here.
The last 11 days have been spent in Maluku Province in East Indonesia. We have been to some great places. We spent 2 days on Seram island, 4 days in the remote Kei Islands and the rest of the time on Ambon Island where the provincial capital is. There was a conflict flare up here in April which lead to about 40 people being killed. Luckily the conflict didn’t spread to other Islands. Many people have reasoned that the reason why the conflict didn’t spread this time, unlike in 1999, was that the community’s resistance to conflict has grown. They are not so easily provoked by those intent on spreading the violence.
This was one of the most impressionable things during the trip. Everyone we spoke to on Seram and Kei were able to see the conflict flare up in Ambon city for what it was, namely, an act of provocation from outside. They didn’t want to be part of it and took positive steps as a community to prevent the conflict coming to their Islands. Even in Ambon city where the violence took place, ordinary people wanted to get on with their lives although there was more fear here than in other parts of Maluku.
The city of Ambon has returned to close to normal now just 3 months after the flare up. People are using the markets together, are crossing the religious lines invisibly drawn over the city and transport networks have been reestablished. There are still parts of town where a Christian dare not go and visa versa, but these are decreasing. There is a lot of work for us to do here.
We have to make a choice to begin our peacebuilding work in Poso, Central Sulawesi or here in Maluku. Both areas suffer from Christian/Muslim fighting with a strong undercurrent of political motivations. Ideally we work in both areas, but at least initially we have to make a choice.
Poso is a smaller town, has a smaller international NGO presence and there is more room to move in terms of the programs we could do. Maluku has bigger needs but also has a bigger international NGO community, has better infrastructure, and is better known of in Japan which can help funding. Even though there was a flare up of conflict in Ambon city in April, Poso feels more dangerous. The last serious violence there was in October last year when unknown gangs attacked Christian communities burning and killing. Last Saturday, there was a bomb blast at an arts event organized by an international NGO for peacebuilding between the communities. Just last night too, a Christian priest was shot dead in a nearby town by unknown assailants. These acts are done by what is known as spoilers. That is people who want to disrupt the peace process.
The main two theories behind the violence in Ambon on April 25 are that Wiranto (an ex-hard line genral and now Presidential candidate) organized the violence to try to discredit Susilo (another ex-general but more liberal who is also a Presidential candidate and favorite to win) who had been part of the peace agreement process and had dismissed the RMS at that time. Also to discredit Megawati (the incumbent President) by showing that she had not done anything to solve conflict in her 5-year term. Another theory is that army units stationed here had organized the violence and sniper shootings to maintain their valuable protection rackets. Businesses and other entities pay the army to protect their property and it is a huge business. If there is no conflict, the motivation to pay protection money goes away and the army loses out. I think it is a combination of both. Both Wiranto and the army were beneficiaries of the violence but thankfully it wasn’t enough to get him through the first round of elections. Theories about organized terrorist groups are generally dismissed as having no basis at least in Maluku.
In Poso though it is a different story. There abound theories of the presence of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) in Poso. This is a group that has some links to Al Qeada. Although I doubt how big a threat they are in Poso it is still a concern. If they really wanted to disturb the peace process they could more than set off a small bomb that did virtually no damage. Theories regarding the participation of the military in the attacks all also rife here. The attackers use military issue weapons and are obviously trained. There have been no attacks against foreigners. It seems they are more set keeping the Muslim and Christian communities apart.
All pretty evil stuff I reckon.
On the Kei Islands we saw the most beautiful beaches. There are a number of these type of remote islands groups in south Maluku. They often have great beaches but suffer from poverty and suffered greatly from the conflict in 99-2000. Most of the international NGOs work in the areas around Ambon city but few venture to these islands where needs are high. From a logistical perspective, starting activities from a place like Kei would be tough. We were hosted by a large international NGO whom we share a global alliance with. They also have a strong base in Ambon city but work in remote areas like Kei as well. I think we would want to start in Ambon, but in the future I would like to try and work in areas like Kei. There are the Aru Islands, Tanimbar, Babar, Lucipara and Wetar amongst a whole range of islands and island groups that have no external assistance. Although they can cope on their own a lot could be achieved with the right type of assistance.
We stayed at a beach resort the last two nights. Although not right on the beach iand basic it was nice. They had karaoke there and people would go there to sing and drink alcohol until 2 am. It was so loud. Our partner organization knew the people there and so we were encouraged to join the karaoke. I thought I would give it a try. The room was so dark with a single disco light dimly flashing in the middle. There were two women who worked there who we had been talking with during the day. They were typical karaoke bar girls who were cheerful and laughed a lot at my bad Bahasa.
One of them was reading a romantic novel and some women’s magazines when we returned one afternoon on the verandah of her cottage (it was a row of cottages all joined). I looked through the magazine which just a normal looking housewife orientated magazine and there were advertisements for all sorts of creams and pills to enlarge buttocks, enlarge breasts, lose weight, put on weight, increase desire, and to tighten vaginas. There were also adds for vibrators and other sex toys. These ads in women’s magazines are normal in Indonesia it seems. For language study purposes only of course I began reading some of these ads aloud and asking the meaning of all these words I didn’t know (There was a lot of words I didn’t know as I haven’t got to the ‘sexlife’ section of my beginners bahasa text book). This inevitably drew howls of laughter from everybody. I then moved to a steamy scene in the novel where I really got in to some serious vocab building. The word that got the biggest laugh was ‘jrott’. I am not sure what it means exactly but it appeared when the man came. Maybe its like an onomatopoeia for ejaculation. It was actually good reading practice which I haven’t done much of.
Another memorable experience was a visit to Wayame outside of Ambon city. There we visited some community leaders and talked about there experience through the conflict. Wayame is significant because it was able to maintain the peace throughout the conflict since 99 even though it is a mixed community. I was curious to find out how they were able to achieve this significant feat so that we could possibly apply it to other communities. However, the meeting was memorable for the reasons different to what I thought it might be. We met a Christian and a Muslim leader and the Christian guy was so agitated from the outset. He couldn’t keep still, refused to look us in the eye and shook his head continually. He spoke with such anger and passion. He spoke about the rottenness of politicians, the army and all the people who came to talk to then like objects, of which we were another in a long history obviously.
But we listened to them both patiently and at one point they said something that really caught my attention. “So many people come and talk to us, to learn the formula of how we kept the peace. They then think that they can apply what they hear in a one hour conversation to their projects in other areas. What we did grew out of experience. What we did was tough sometimes and other communities may not be able to swallow such bitter medicine to keep their communities healthy. We are the only ones who can pass on this knowledge. We want to pass it on to other communities we haven’t had the chance”.
I thought, “Wow, what a great idea. These guys have a wealth of knowledge to share. Real life experience. They have survived the conflict in peace and want to share this knowledge. This is a great chance for us too.” I asked them if they had ever offered their services to other people who had come earlier and they said that it was only a recent idea of theirs. There are plenty of communities in Maluku who have become divided by the conflict. Usually one religious group has been driven from their homes and are still living as internally displaced persons (IDPs) elsewhere. An important part of the reconciliation process is getting people to live in peace together again. The government is supposed provide a housing package, although there are often delays and bureaucratic red tape typical of Indonesia. If we could work in coordination with the government to facilitate the return of the IDPs it would be good I thought. The leaders from Wayame could play a great role in this talking about their experiences of how a mixed community was able to live in peace. We’ll see how this turns out.
We visited one community on Seram Island that was an IDP community. They had been displaced since 1999 from their village on the other side of this big island and no one had been back since. They desperately wanted to return but had received no assistance from the government for housing despite numerous promises. They had no money for transport back to see their old village and meet with their former neighbors who they fled from in fear 5 years ago. They were living temporary houses made from palm fronds and wood planks. They really needed some help. We contacted an international NGO that were working on this Island and told them about this community. Hopefully they can be helped.
What else?? I don’t know. I’m sure there were more experiences I will recall later. Anyway, now I have to put all this information in to a comprehensible presentation to convince HQ to keep our programs going here. And to allow my family to join me. Its going to be a busy 9 days until my return.
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