Peace and leadership in RI

Ichsan Malik ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 11/27/2008 11:08 AM  |  Opinion

Probably not many Indonesians realize that as a nation we have made an enormous achievement in overcoming major horizontal and vertical (against the central government) conflicts during the past 10 years. Just look at the conflicts in Maluku, Poso in Central Sulawesi, Sampit in Central Kalimantan, Aceh, Papua and West Kalimantan.

These conflicts have been resolved or are close to being resolved. Most noteworthy are two success stories of peace in Indonesia, the cessation of violent and bloody conflicts in Aceh and Maluku.

Regional autonomy in Indonesia has stepped forward and awakened the spirit of democracy. However, this newly formed consciousness of democracy became the source of conflict between central and local governments in managing strategic natural resources, such as natural gas, gold and coal. Another source of conflict is the issue of local separatism, whether from the nation or to establish new provinces or regencies. The latter will most certainly develop into disputes over land boundaries.

As the largest archipelagic nation in the world, with 70 percent of its territory being waters, our strength remains largely untapped. We have mainly focused our development on land. Currently we are standing by watching while foreign powers exploit our abundant marine resources.

All of these are serious challenges faced by future leaders of Indonesia. Further, these are latent sources of conflict, both internally between provinces and regions, and externally with neighboring countries.

Building on local culture as a solution to solve regional conflicts was the approach adopted in Maluku (Maluku and its surrounding islands) by the Baku Bae movement. This movement consisted of "Kelompok 20" from the village of Wayame, a group of independent journalists, lawyers and religious leaders from the area.

Its approach was to evoke the sense of brotherhood (Pela-Gandong), which exists as part of the local tradition, as a means for conflict resolution. This approach was accomplished by utilizing community consultation meetings (musyawarah) involving representatives from all citizens (saniri).

In Maluku, involving traditional symbols such as kings (latupati) and state leaders to discuss peace proved to be very effective. Consisting of grassroots community groups, the Baku Bae movement needed a strong figure to implement its cultural-humanistic approach.

Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, a respected traditional figure in Indonesia, fulfilled this requirement as a representative symbol of culture, and served as a Facilitator of Honor in the Baku Bae movement. He was a key actor who contributed significantly to the cessation of violence in Maluku.

As a facilitator and mediator, Sri Sultan tried to bridge all conflicting parties: perpetrators, kings, lawyers, journalists, religious leaders, students and the Indonesian government. Hard-line groups that initially rejected any form of reconciliation were indirectly influenced by his messages of peace. This occurred at both the local and the national levels.

In 2007, Maluku's Latupati Assembly was formed as a forum for all traditional cultural villages (negeri) in Maluku to uphold peace and to resolve minor conflicts immediately before they could escalate. This forum also plans to rebuild many post-conflict areas in Maluku.

Meanwhile, the Aceh conflict has been categorized as a violent-structural one (civil versus state). Conflicts occurred primarily because of the overexploitation of Aceh's natural resources and the gross human rights violations in the rebellious province. The central government claimed these resources under its jurisdiction to manage Indonesia's natural wealth. On the other hand, local community also laid claim to the bounty as it is within their traditional land.

This long-standing conflict has some major accumulated impacts. Violence for more than 32 years has left a trail of human rights violations by the Indonesian government. The suffering Aceh people endured was further exacerbated by the tragic tsunami in 2004 that resonated throughout the world. Ironically, it took the largest tragedy in living memory to set in motion the peace and conflict-resolution process. The Aceh conflict ended dramatically through a politico-economic approach, sealed by the signing of the Helsinki agreement in August 2005.

Three main actors in the historic achievement were Vice President Jusuf Kalla, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) supreme leader Hasan Tiro. They used all the politico-economic resources at their disposal to effectively enact peace and immediately improve the lives of people in Aceh.

The use of external mediators also proved successful. Kalla, Yudhoyono and Tiro were vigilant in bringing all parties to participate in the peace process, as several factions sought to reject peace in Aceh. Now, the people of Aceh have started to enjoy the beauty of peace and strongly believe in the importance of maintaining it.

These stories teach us that the cultural-humanistic approach is best way to build peace and maintain the diversity of our nation. Evidently, nationalism, participation and democracy can only be developed by empowering our local cultures and traditions. The politico-economic approach also proved successful in creating immediate peace in Aceh.

The writer is chairman of the Titian Perdamaian Institute.

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