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Local peace campaigners receive national recognition

For peace and pluralism: Three winners — (from left to right) Budiman Maliki (Poso, Central Sulawesi), Josep Matheus Rudolf “Rudi” Fofid (Ambon, Maluku) and Hasni Yati Hamidi from Mosintuwu (Poso, Central Sulawesi) — pose with their 2016 Maarif Awards in Jakarta on Sunday

Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Mon, June 13, 2016

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Local peace campaigners receive national recognition

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span class="inline inline-center">For peace and pluralism: Three winners — (from left to right) Budiman Maliki (Poso, Central Sulawesi), Josep Matheus Rudolf “Rudi” Fofid (Ambon, Maluku) and Hasni Yati Hamidi from Mosintuwu (Poso, Central Sulawesi) — pose with their 2016 Maarif Awards in Jakarta on Sunday. They won the awards for promoting peace and pluralism in their communities.(JP/Dhoni Setiawan)

Poso in Central Sulawesi and Ambon in Maluku have had more than their fair share of bloody communal conflicts but they have also given rise to some of the most tireless peace warriors, those who soldier on in challenging environments, to empower people who are most affected by the conflict; women, children and the youth.

On Sunday, two individuals from those two communities, Josep Matheus Rudolf “Rudi” Fofid from Ambon and Budiman Maliki from Poso, as well as a local organization, the Mosintuwu Institute, won recognition for promoting peace and pluralism through the prestigious 2016 Maarif Awards.

Rudi is a survivor of the communal conflict in Bacan Island, North Maluku, which started 1999, and saw his father and sister murdered by people from the Muslim community.

He was deeply wounded by the loss, but he later made a pledge that he would not exact revenge against the Muslim community and decided to embrace Muslims within his community, especially in Ambon, and encouraged them to engage in a dialogue with members of the Christian community through journalism, poetry and music.

Believing revenge is pointless he says those who murdered his family were also victims just like him.

“Bringing peace to Ambon is the best cure for all. Since the conflict broke out until now I have always had Muslims around me and I never hated them,” Rudi said, shortly after receiving the award from the Maarif Institute in a ceremony on Sunday.

“It was impossible to put the blame on Muslims for the killing, but instead of trying to find out the perpetrators I opted to work for peace in Ambon,” he said.

Local media outlets decided to take sides in the sectarian conflict in Ambon and produced inaccurate reports that further fueled broader conflict in the region.

However, Rudi, a senior journalist for Suara Maluku (Voice of Maluku), took the initiative to set up the Maluku Media Center (MMC) as the medium through which reporters from various religious backgrounds could promote the message of peace.

After the communal conflict died down in 2009 Rudi went further in his efforts to promote peace by using arts and literature. Before long, he also became known as a poet.

He moved to teach young people in Maluku, who were divided along religious lines to produce art and literary works, including poetry, as a medium to reunite people from various communities and to promote peace, tolerance and pluralism.

Following a minor communal clash which broke out in Ambon on Sept. 11, 2011, Rudi pioneered a movement called “peace provocateur” that was aimed at “provoking” members of the local community to counter negative issues that could again divide people in the region.

The Ambon communal conflict lasted between 1999 and 2002 and reportedly claimed 9,000 lives and displaced around 700,000 people.

The two other recipients of the Maarif awards are Budiman and the Mosintuwu Institute, both in Poso.

The Maarif Institute gave Budiman the credit for his relentless efforts at independent humanitarian activism.

While other peace activists in Poso have bowed to pragmatism by joining political parties, Budiman has remained independent although he once tried to join the National Mandate Party (PAN).

He caused a stir when he proposed to the government that the country’s most wanted terrorist be given amnesty. The Mosintuwu Institute was selected for promoting the roles of women in conflict resolution.

“Mosintowu is proof that women survivors in Palu can bridge conflict, heal anger as well as understand differences in order to work together to build Poso at the village level,” one of the jury members for the award, The Jakarta Post’s chief editor Endy M. Bayuni, said.

Mosintuwu Institute program director Asni Yati Hamidi, a survivor of the communal conflict in Poso, and first alumni of the institute’s women’s school, said women could play a key role in conflict resolution rather than playing their traditional domestic roles.

“The three winners have proven that tragic events in the past can be transformed into powerful forces to create a better future after the conflict is over,” said Maarif Institute executive director Fajar Riza Ul Haq.

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