Rusli said so far the relations among community members in the region have been good. Community members from different religions, ethnicities and tribal groups have become one working for their future.Poso, Central Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - People in Poso, Central Sulawesi, want to be left alone and not disturbed by threats and rumours that could disrupt the harmonious relations among community members built after communal conflicts ten years ago.
"We do not like chaos to happen again in the region. We want to live in peace, could go freely here and there without fear," Rusli, a resident of Kasintivu neighbourhood, North Poso Kota, Poso District, said here on Wednesday.
Rusli said so far the relations among community members in the region have been good. Community members from different religions, ethnicities and tribal groups have become one working for their future, he said.
"We often gather to tell funny stories we experienced during conflicts in the past. It is already good. There is no longer a grudge," he said.
Rusli said he is now living with a Christian neighbour and they have lived harmoniously.
He said when the communal conflict broke out in 2000 he had to leave for safety in Manado, North Sulawesi, with his family. He lived there for six months without work. After peace was restored in Poso he said he returned.
He said conflicts in Poso in the past had hurt common people. Their houses that have been built for years suddenly vanished.
Rusli said his sense of peace was disturbed again following the shooting of police officers in Palu with the perpetrators being suspected to come from Poso recently and the discovery of several bombs on Wednesday.
However "we would not let ourselves be provoked. We will concentrate on our work," he said.
Nestor, a teacher of state junior high school in Poso, meanwhile said the relations among different religious followers in the region had now been good.
"In our school we Christian teachers often help when Moslems conduct prayers events. We help in the kitchen, cooking meat," he said.
Relations among students with different religions have also been good. "We help each other. Our relations are good. There is no longer fear," he said.
The pastor of Christian GKST Sion church, Cornelius Ramma, said inter-religious relations have been good. He said he even feels that conflicts have ever happened in the region.
In connection with recent bomb rumours he said it was important for the religious leaders to call on their followers not to be easily provoked.
"Let us tell our people, remind them not to be easily provoked by recent rumours," he said.
He said recent rumours were the work of those who do not want to see Poso residents to live in peace.
"This is the work of irresponsible people who wish to pit one against another," he said.
The chief of the Hikman Islamic Boarding School, Muh Adnan Arsal, said his relations with non-Muslim leaders were good.
"I often speak on the phone with Rev. Damanik. Our relations are good," he said.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
