Laksamana.Net, February 28, 2002 10:14 PM
Ambon: People Power?
Laksamana.Net - A mass rally in Ambon led by several thousand young men, both
Muslim and Christian, from the small island of Haruku teamed up Wednesday with
people from the city in a major demonstration demanding peace.
Agence France Presse quoted Christian Synod member Father Hendrik as saying
people were shaking hands and hugging, and that the city had been remarkably busy.
Father C.J.Böhm of the Crisis Center Diocese of Amboina asked if this could be the
end of the conflict.
The Crisis Center said the arrival of the youths from Haruku coincided with a
"socialisation" of the Malino II peace accords for Maluku province by the Muslim
community that was generally well received.
The Haruku group joined with Muslims from the peace accord group and set off on a
parade crossing Ambon, ignoring the communal lines that have divided the city for
three years, collecting more people as it went. Police and military joined in the
demonstration and "even the Police Chief Commander joyfully walked arm in arm with
them."
The Center reports that the group then called on Governor Saleh Latuconsina, who
comes from Haruku told the crowd "from now on Ambon is safe." He added that those
wanting peace should take care of "malevolent persons", and said everyone should
surrender their weapons.
The division of Ambon into Muslim and Christian groups, often at war with each other,
began with an argument between a bus conductor and a passenger, and spread to
mass conversion to Islam by force of Christian communities in Maluku. Many women
were forced to undergo circumcision, and thousands of people – both Christian and
Muslim – died in the three-year conflict.
Analysts say the roots of the problem are seated in long-standing jealousy over power
and position.
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