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FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) About Bloody Ramadhan in Maluku, Indonesia 3000 Muslims slaughtered in 5 months. 800 killed overnight on December 28, 1999. Women raped on streets. Dozens burned alive in mosques in eastern Indonesian province of Maluku, the site of the year-long religious war between Muslims and Christians... 1. How has such atrocity been allowed to happen in the world largest Muslim country? Firstly, the massacre took place in a group of islands that is, religio-culturally, most influenced by the Dutch colonialism which began in the 17th century. During the Independence War (1945-1949), many Christian Malukus joined the Dutch Army (KNIL) to fight the newly founded Republic of Indonesia. Secondly, Muslims in these islands are a minority --they make up less than 40 percent of the total population of ... million. Thirdly, the province of Maluku, which consists of more than ... big and small islands, is remote from the capital city of Jakarta. It is located about 3-hour flight from Jakarta. It takes more than one day of sea transportation from the provincial capital of Ambon to villages and scattered spots where the massacre took place. The religious war erupted on January 19, 1999, when Christian mobs in Ambon attacked Muslim villagers who were celebrating the Eid-el-Fitri day following a petty street quarrel between two men from the two groups. 2. Why has the Indonesian government, which is led by a Muslim cleric, failed to prevent or curb the ongoing atrocities? Neither President Abdurrahman Wahid, who was elected the fourth president last October, nor the previous president B.J. Habibie had control over the military or its operations in the handling of Maluku violence. They are different from the second president, five-star general Suharto, who remains to be influential among some military key-figures (such as General Wiranto) even after he was toppled in May 1998. Despite his status as long-time leader of Indonesias largest Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama, Abdurrahman Wahid does not have a strong record in coming to the defense of Muslims in the face of attacks or oppression during the previous regimes. He is a strong proponent of Kemal Attaturks secular concepts, and is known to favor his socialist, Christian-Catholic activist friends over other national Muslim leaders. For instance, he only became close to Amien Rais --leader of Muhammadiyah Islamic organization, whom he always disagreed with previously-- in the runup to the presidential election. 3. Why has the military failed to launch massive action to curb the violence? Firstly, the Indonesian military is secular --it used to avoid any entanglement with any religious parties. However, in practice, the militarys stance on Islam and Muslims depends greatly on the individuals interests of its generals. In the beginning of the Suharto era (1968-1989), the military was very oppressive toward Muslims which was a part of the New Order regimes policy on Islam; any signs of Muslim politics were crushed swiftly. When Suharto made an about-face and started to become more friendly toward Muslims during his last decade in power, the military followed the same path. After Suharto was toppled by the 1998 reform movement, fractions within the army became unavoidable. This led to, among other things, a loosening of control over the military; soldiers dealing with protests or riots, for instance, often acted in confusion and took harsh measures which their supervisors usually would later admit as uncalled-for or even acts of insubordination. In the case of Maluku violence, the Christian regional army commander, Brig. Gen. Max Tamaela, has gone and admitted that he did not have full control over his men in the field. Some reports said Tamaela had actually been in hiding on December 28, 1999, when Christian mobs attacked Muslim villages and killed some 800 people, raped countless women and burned dozens of Muslims alive in a mosque in Halmahera district. In addition, Muslim and Christian soldiers in the regional army have been proven to have taken side with their own religious groups. The civilian provincial government, which is predominated by Muslims, has proved to be equally helpless in curbing the violence. The previous attempts at military-initiated reconciliation between the two sides have been futile so far and agreements were never honored for more than one day. The effort to invoke Pela-Gandong, a traditional agreement to respect one another, has failed miserably, too. 4. Has there been domestic pressure, especially from the Muslim community in the rest of the country, on the government to take more serious action? On January 7, 2000, before performing their Friday prayer, hundreds of thousands of Muslim gathered at the National Monument Park, which is located in front of the presidential palace at the center of the capital, to launch the One Million Muslims Declaration. They demanded that the government take a serious and immediate action to put a stop to the massacre in Maluku; otherwise Muslims in the country will go to jihad in order to end the suffering of their brethren there. In the previous week, KAMMI (the United Indonesian Muslim Student Action) had called for jihad in Maluku as a response to the weaknesses of the government and the military. They also demanded that Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri resign over her failure in handling Maluku violence. During the year of 1999, a number of both Muslims and Christians from various other parts of the country have gone to Maluku to fight along their religious brothers. Last week, however, President Abdurrahman Wahid ordered the military to arrest anyone entering Maluku for the purpose of taking part in the conflict. 5. Is there any foreign parties involvement in the conflict? Analysts have disclosed indications of foreign involvement. The Indonesian government under first president Sukarno crushed the Netherland-based separatist movement South Maluku Republic (RMS), but its leaders and activists are so far still active in their exile in the Netherlands. FMJ Tutuhatunewa, the president of the RMS has publicly admitted to financially supporting the Christian side in the war. Smuggling of weaponry in large volume had been disclosed by the authority nearby several churches. Analysts predicted that after the East Timor fiasco, certain foreign parties will turn to eastern Indonesia and create there a center of instability for their own interests. One needs to bear in mind that the region has an enormous amount of natural resource which has yet to be explored. During the height of the 1998 political crisis that led to Soehartos dethronement, rumors circulated that the USA was interested in establishing a military base in Biak-Numfor, a group of islands in Irian Jaya province nearby Maluku, and in East Timor. The rumored plan of the base was said to be a substitute for the Clark and Subic (the Philippines) military bases that were closed in 1996. Wallaahualam. 5. How is the refugee situation one year after the war erupted? There are an estimated 200,000 people, mostly Muslims, displaced because of the conflict. Non-Malukus refugees fled to their homeland in neighboring provinces such as South and Central Maluku, where they no longer have relatives or properties because they had been residents of Maluku for generations. In most cases, the refugees live in appalling condition. Some 50,000 Muslims who fled to Buton in Central Sulawesi have been living in plastic tents or any other shelters including the wall-less school gymnasiums where sanitation is poor and clean water is almost non-existent. In other refugee camps in Ambon, Tual, Ternate and Tidore in Maluku, children suffer and die from diarrhea, respiratory tract infections and malnutrition. 6. Is there an end in sight to the Maluku war? No one can foresee the end, given the local and national political and security situation. Maluku is now like a rice barn being razed to the ground with the fire going out of control and spreading fast. The "devil parties" interested to see all this destruction need only to snap their fingers to ensure that it continues. Indonesian Muslim Society in Britain and Eire (KIBAR)
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