Triggered by the death of Darmin Saiman, a motorcycle taxi driver in a traffic accident on Saturday evening, the communal clash on Sunday, Sept 11, 2011, left at least six people dead and 187 others wounded.
Darmin Saiman`s death in the traffic accident is similar to an argument in Ambon city between a Christian public transport driver and Muslim passengers that led to the outbreak of at least three-year fighting that spread to other islands in Maluku from January 1999 until 2002.
But luckily the security and calm in Ambon after Sunday`s communal conflict has returned to normal.
"The security condition has come under control as of Sunday night and returned to normal on Monday morning," National Police (Polri) spokesman Insp Gen Anton Bahrul Alam said in Jakarta on Monday.
According to him, the conducive situation was the result of better coordination among council for provincial and lower level government officials, religious figures, community figures, and youth leaders.
"Today (Monday) they meet again to make further evaluation to the security situation, and in principle the National Police Headquarters support the move," Anton said.
Observant people are unanimous in the opinion that the communal conflict in Ambon should be brought to an end and that the local people should exercise self-restraint and not be easily provoked.
Security Minister Djoko Suyanto on Monday urged the people in Ambon not to be easily provoked by baseless rumors that led to misunderstanding.
Djoko said through technological means including social networks, various information has strongly been flowing but the people should screen it to check its truth and to avoid misunderstanding that may lead to social clashes.
"Please help inform the people that they must not be easily provoked," Djoko said at the presidential palace in response to clashes in Ambon.
Djoko said police were still searching the provocateurs who have spread misleading text messages encouraging people to fight.
"We are still searching them. The police have already found their phone numbers," he said.
Based on preliminary reports, Djoko said the rioting flared
after Darmin Saiman was killed in a single traffic accident but it was then reported that it was not so.
Concerned with the conflict, Ambon Residents Harmony Central Board spokesman Abubakar Wasahua in Makassar, South Sulawesi, said on Tuesday that the best possible solution should immediately be sought to bring the communal clash to an end.
"With a cool hearts we urge residents in Ambon to immediately stop the violence so as not to get worse and spread. We have the principle of being brothers and sisters, and whatever happens we feel the pain together," Abubakar Wasahua said.
He expressed hope that the situation in Ambon be cool down, more conducive and peaceful, and that the people should not easily provoked by baseless information.
Indonesian Republic Catholic Student Association (PMKRI) chairman Stefanus Gusma also shares Abubakar`s opinion to make Ambon peaceful again.
"Ambon must be peaceful and cool, and that the roles of religious and traditional leaders as well as students organizations among the community should be optimized," Stefanus said in Jakarta on Monday.
According to Stefanus, PMKRI disagrees if the handling of the clashes in Ambon is done through security approach.
"To say that Ambon is a conflict area and thus to increase the number of security officials with a military approach will
even more heat up the situation," he noted.
In light of this, sociologist from the University of Indonesia, Tamrin Amal Tamagola, expressed hope that the communal conflict in Ambon must be completed by the local community without intervention from outsiders.
"Outsiders should not interfere. Let the people of Amobon and community leaders themselves with their custom order solve the problems," Tamrin said on Monday.
He said the government should provide opportunities for the local communities to create an atmosphere of peace in Ambon, because they have made efforts for peace through assimilation since bloody conflict in Ambon in 1999.
"Completion of Sunday`s communal clash in Ambon does not need assistance from third party. The people there do not need mediators because they have been able to solve the similar problem that happened in 1999," Tamrin noted.
Meanwhile, religious leaders in Maluku have called on the local community to be easily provoked by misleading issues which lead to communal clash.
The written call, signed by the leaders of Muslim, Christian, Catholic, Buddhism, and the chairman of Religious Harmony Forum of Maluku, was read out here on Tuesday by Maluku Provincial Office of the Ministry of Religion head Mohammad Atamimi.
Atamimi said the religious leaders, community and youth leaders, and the mass organization in Maluku should make every effort to maintain security and order without being provoked by unfounded information.
"Together, let us fight against provocateurs who spread misleading information to the public because they actually do not want peace and harmony to prevail in the province," Atamimi said.
Therefore, World Conference on Religions for Peace (WCRP) President KH Hasyim Muzadi reminds the people in Ambon not to be mired in the same tragedy as that in 1999.
"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.(*)
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Reporter: Otniel Tamindael
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
