Conflict Management in Indonesia – An Analysis of the Conflicts in ...

family heads, and later changed back to the number
of houses abandoned. Using the number of houses
as a guide was problematic when there were up to
three families living in one house and fluctuating
numbers of people within each family. These
changes profoundly affected the distribution of
health care, food and the reconstruction of houses.
After Inpres 6 came into effect in 2004, the
Government started to implement more serious
measures to assist IDPs. However, the problems
of corruption and unreliable data remained. In
addition, the approach taken to rebuilding communities
focused on physical buildings and reconstruction
– little attention was given to repairing
relations and building trust between IDPs and
their surrounding communities. One provincial
civil servant underlined the problem that “some
IDPs do not want to go back to their own village
because of the trauma and fear from the experience
of neighbours attacking them. Or IDPs want to
return to their village but surrounding villages do
not accept their return.” 59
The return of IDPs in the aftermath of a communal
conflict is complex, particularly so in Maluku
where many of the IDPs were transmigrants from
Bugis, Buton and Makassar. These migrants were
living in Ambon before they fled the violence. They
lost their property during the conflict, but could
not easily produce registration documents or other
evidence to prove that they were living in Ambon.
The difficulty in verifying who was actually living
in Ambon before the conflict was exploited by
some who came to Ambon pretending to be IDPs
so that they could claim the financial compensation
offered by the Government. Such problems
highlight the need for reliable data on IDPs to be
maintained by village administrations and by
communities themselves at the Rukun Warga or
Rukun Tetangga level. 60
Pemekaran
In Indonesia, pemekaran refers to the division and
creation of provinces, districts and sub-districts
into smaller units. Indonesia’s 1999 local autonomy
law permitted the division of provinces, districts
59 Interview by Akiko Horiba with the former Second Assistant in
Maluku province, Ambon City, 2 September 2009.
60 These are the lowest strata of the government that runs the people’s
daily social lives. Their task is to maintain harmonious relations
between neighbors.
and sub-districts into smaller units for the purpose
of better administration, more equitable resource
distribution and a more representative government.
In 1999, a new province, the North Maluku
Province was created from the Maluku Province
and created new districts, Maluku West Southeast
(Maluku Tenggara Barat) and Buru. This was followed
by the creation of West Seram (Seram Bagian
Barat),East Seram (Seram Bagian Timur) and Aru
in 2003, Tual city in 2007, and West Daya Maluku
(Maluku Barat Daya) and South Buru (Buru Selatan)
in 2008. There are now nine districts and two
municipalities in Maluku.
These changes have been important in determining
whether tensions are resolved violently or
through other means. An unanticipated consequence
of pemekaran is that there are now more opportunities
for local elites to hold political office. Some
of those who had been involved in instigating violence
now see the opportunity to pursue their objectives
through political channels. Hence pemekaran
has increased political competition but helped to
decrease violent conflict in Maluku.
The security forces
One of the biggest successes of Malino II was that
it initiated a much more proactive response by the
security forces, which in turn helped to reduce violence.
Before the agreement, few were arrested or
brought to trial for the crimes they committed.
Although Malino II did not lead to widespread
arrests of those who had planned violence, several
key figures on both sides were brought to trial. In
2003, Alex Manuputti, leader of FKM and Ja’far
Umar Talib, leader of Laskar Jihad, were arrested.
Several suspected members of local terrorist groups
or militias were arrested between 2004 and 2005
and brought to trial. While there was some public
criticism over the failure to arrest other figures
who had been involved in the violence, the decision
to clamp down on the militias brought a certain
degree of stability to Maluku.
Civil society
Civil society – including religious groups, international
and local NGOs, academics, journalists, and
women’s groups – worked mainly to distribute
emergency aid prior to the Malino II peace talks.
Only a handful were involved in reconciliation
initiatives, such as the activities of the Interfaith
An Analysis of the Conflicts in Maluku, Papua and Poso
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