"I hope the whole community in Ambon will not get caught up in the same tragedy in the same hole for the second time," Hasyim said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
He said if the same tragedy happened in the same hole for the second time in Ambon, Maluku, it would be naive for Muslims and Christians as a nation of Indonesia.
According to the WCRP president, the sectarian conflicts that raged Maluku province from early 1999 until 2002 were simply triggered by a trivial matter
The apparent spark that led to the outbreak of fighting was reported to have been an argument in Ambon city between a Christian public transport driver and at least a Muslim passenger.
The argument soon heated uncontrollably into a brawl and then spiraled into several days of mob violence, and later spread to other islands, thus beginning the cyclical pattern.
In the two years that the fighting lasted, 5,000-8,000 people had been killed and 500,000 others displaced from their homes.
Houses of worship were especially targeted and more than 100 mosques and churches were destroyed or damaged.
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Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
