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verybody in Ambon nowadays knows to control him or herself when conflicts between individuals or groups of different faiths are about to ignite. A clash between those of the same faith is far more likely to happen than of different faiths. They have learned to walk away from any possible tension between individuals or groups of different faiths.

That does not mean that they have learned to become real friends again. They have learned to avoid conflict. They are walking a thin line, and it seems they are being cordial as a form of misplaced respect. Not that they are just on the edge of bashing each other’s brains in, but they seem to want to keep it superficial and on high alert not to offend each other.

All seemed pretty controlled up until recently, when, at the University of Pattimura, students accused the university of discriminating against them on religious grounds concerning admission exams. Without any form of reflection or scrutiny of the facts, these students decided it was time for a rampage to prove that they were right. Data disclosed by the university actually proved them wrong.

This latest traffic incident again may turn out to be an “overreaction” based on a rumor rather than facts. But the damage has been done again. Five have died for this little “hick up”. I can only imagine how those families of the deceased will deal with this futile exercise of over-boiled feelings of grief. But that seems the price we have to pay for an endless cycle of distrust, suspicion and false pretenses. But let us magnify this surreal state of decency. Such a flare-up is another wakeup call for all of us of different faiths in Indonesia.

Indonesia is a country where everybody is judged by his or her faith. As long as faith determines one’s standing in society, as long as merit is no longer a yardstick for our communities’ respect, you might as well sew your own “Star of David” on your chest and try and find your own tribe to mingle with. Nationalism and Pancasila all left the building quite some time ago. Even justice is meted out with a religious bias where needed.

That is why the sectarian riots have resulted in casualties rivaling the Bosnian conflict and with zero justice so far. An in-depth scrutiny of the aggressors would be a real juggling experience between the land mines of the religious divide. So they ended up with Malino I and II, which was something along the lines of “let us move on and forget about the past”. (And by the way, lucky you if you were not among casualties this time.)

Back to square one, which is that water and oil simply do not mix, so keep them apart. And that is Moluccan society of today — each and every tribe in its own cave. And I do not mean that they aren’t mingling physically, on the contrary, they are and without fear, but always vigilant as not to offend the other tribe, like visiting the Queen, congratulating her on her birthday, shaking her hand and smiling at her while despising the very monarchy she stands for. Hypocrisy, or munafik: a must-learn word, just one word to clarify it all.

Asher Tauran
Jakarta