They enjoy the meaning of peace

My daughter, Virginia Rose, is now 9 years old. Apart from her schooling, which she is doing diligently, she is also active in art and sports.

These last months she has been extremely active skipping and recently she proudly told me she was able to skip 75 times non-stop. As a father who is always proud to see his children’s progress, I have leisurely observed several times recently. At the height of Moscow’s summer, I took the opportunity to watch Virginia display her skills. She was not satisfied with her feat and was determined to 100 non-stop.

After she had been skipping for a while, I interrupted her. Suddenly I pretended to have become an expert skipper. I instructed her technically in how to skip and criticized her endlessly.

I never expected Virginia’s reaction. “Papa, please don’t lecture me about this. You do not have any history of doing this. How could you possibly teach me? You cannot even jump!” she shouted while smiling and shaking her head.

I was suddenly reminded of my daughter when I read an opinion article in The Jakarta Post of Saturday, July 30, titled “Resolving conflict in Indonesia” written by Michael Vatikiotis. In this article Vatikiotis was critical of the resolution of the Poso and Ambon conflicts, which he says adopted a “top-down approach”. This claim is based upon the results of research conducted by the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue (which he heads) and Indonesian experts.

This claim is problematic because we resolved Poso and Ambon conflicts 10 years ago, but where were these experts then? Secondly, this claim is really far from the roots of the truth.

The mastermind of the resolution of the Poso and Ambon conflict is former vice president Jusuf Kalla (JK). Long before the Malino talks, JK’s staff traversed from Poso, Tentena and Palu. Day and night they infiltrated and collected all available information on the conflict. After all this information was assembled from the bottom up, JK moved directly by contacting all community leaders, both formal and informal, NGO members and so on. The team even reached out to the lowest level of the administration: neighborhood units.

This process was conducted in stages. In the end, 35 people each from the Christian and Muslim community were selected for the peace talks. Every organization and entity was represented in these two groups of 35. Dozens of observers attended and witnessed the negotiation and the signing of the peace accord. The original peace accord is kept intact and securely stored. Vatikiotis and associates could have simply obtained a copy of this document.

The representation approached was needed to tap aspirations and desires of both conflicting parties. We really did assemble a list of these wishes from the bottom up. After the data was collected, JK along with his team discussed this with either side. These results of these discussions formed the basis of peace document. It means the wishes of all parties involved in the process from the bottom up crystallized as a joint wish list which later translated into a binding document. This process and mechanism of the resolution of the Poso conflict was successfully applied again in resolving the Ambon conflict.

In the resolution of both the Poso and Ambon conflicts, Kalla gave me the full mandate to compose and draft the peace document following discussions with all parties prior to signing the final peace accord. Consequently, from this perspective, Vatikiotis’ claim that the resolution of the Poso–Ambon conflict adopted a “top-down” approach is totally incorrect.

However, Vatikiotis’ claim of a “top-down” approach could be asserted as the initiative and concept that originated from Kalla who at the time was coordinating people’s welfare minister. JK not only had the interest and the concept, but also moved swiftly from all directions seeking a breakthrough because the conflicts had been lasting for three years, claiming many lives and creating great social distrust in both communities.

Vatikiotis’ claim that women were not involved in the conflict resolution in Poso and Ambon again is totally incorrect. From the very beginning of the peace process through to the formation of the individual parties for discussions and the signing of the peace accord — women were involved. Even when the individual parties met with then coordinating political and security affairs minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, several women attended with notable loud and clear voices. They also came to Malino and signed the peace accord.

The Aceh problem is touched upon by Vatikiotis in his article, and I am compelled to respond. Kalla was the sole architect in the resolution of the Aceh conflict.

I myself became involved in 2002 following the resolution of the Ambon conflict. I find no great fault with Vatikiotis’ claim that the Aceh conflict resolution did not involve women, because Vatikiotis clearly had no knowledge of the peace process there.

Long before the Helsinki talks, Kalla’s team traveled to Europe, Malaysia and to the depths of the Aceh jungle. One Acehnese woman we continually involved was Muzakkir Manaf and her older sister. They actively assisted JK’s team in seeking a breakthrough for peace. We secretly brought these pro-peace women to Jakarta many times. In the end only one woman attended the Helsinki talks, but prior to this, women were closely involved for a long time.

Apart from all of this, I wish to say that the peoples of Poso, Ambon and Aceh now enjoy lives free of fear, worry and intimidation. Our children in these three places have returned to schools to prepare themselves for a better future. Children whose parents were lost in the storm of violence can now grow up normally and properly without questioning whether the peace process was “top-down” or “bottom-up” or whether women were involved at all.

In time they will write about the beauty of peace. Because of their enjoyment of their newly found peace, why would they question the mechanism and process of the way peace was achieved? Furthermore we, whoever we are and wherever we are, all yearn for peace. That is the aim of protecting and upholding dignity and human values.

As King Croesus of Lydia put it 2,500 years ago: “It is only in peace, not in conflict or violence, that we can of the beauty of the future.”

The writer is Indonesian Ambassador to Russia and a former justice minister. He was deeply involved in the Ambon, Poso and Aceh peace talks.