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Lawamena
Victoria
Reports
by
CRISIS
CENTRE DIOCESE OF AMBOINA
Jalan Pattimura 32 - Ambon 97124 ( Indonesia
Tel 0062 (0)911 342195 Fax 0062 (0)911 355337
e-mail [email protected]
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THE
SITUATION IN AMBON / MOLUCCAS - Report No. 312
2002-09-01
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Ambon,
September 01, 2002
GRADUAL IMPROVEMENT IN AMBON (summary of a report on Masariku
network)
1. Traffic Mutual understanding between Muslims and
Christians in Ambon is gradually increasing. For those familiar
with the city of Ambon: the Pohon Mangga area of Airsalobar has
been open to Christians for several months already. Muslims from
Pohon Mangga need not fear to get on a minibus through the
Christian Benteng, OSM and Batugantuang neighbourhoods towards the
inner city. A number of Christians are not afraid any more to
travel from Ambon to the airport at Laha (a distance of about 40
km) along the road around the bay, thus going through a number of
Muslim occupied areas, such as Nania, Poka and Rumahtiga. As
Muslims from Lei Hitu and Laha equally use this road to Ambon,
several hundreds of speedboat owners are in danger of getting out
of work. Muslims from Tulehu, Tial and Tengah-Tengah have no fear
any more to pass through Suli and Passo and through a series of
Christian villages on their way to Ambon. Inside the city itself
more and more Christian vehicles pass through Waihaong, the
Jalan A.J.Patty, Belakang Kota and the Jalan Pelabuhan.
2. Fraternizing Socializing goes further than just
traffic. Muslim vendors at the bus terminal of Belakang Kota can
see an increasing number of Christians coming to them, some of
them vendors themselves, allured by lower prices of a number of
goods. Even more so in front of the alternative Pattimura
University Campus, opposite the Military Hospital near the Pohon
Pule bridge. Also hotels like Mutiara, Amboina, Manise and Amans
are meeting places for Christians and Muslims on a higher level.
As during the last few years many people did not venture to go far
from their villages, the population of wild swines has
dramatically increased, causing a lot of damage to the crops.
Christians eagerly comply to requests by Muslims to come and hunt
for these animals together with security forces. These swines
provide a most welcome addition to the Christian cuisine. The same
applies to the islands of Seram, Kelang etc.
Sports are a special form of fraternizing. In the wake of the
national Independence Day festivities, an intercommunal volley
competition was organized at the Lapangan Merdeka in the centre of
the city, which attracted thousands of spectators of both
communities. On August 29 it culminated in the Final Match between
Mahia and a S.E.Moluccas team. At the same time 69 young men from
the Christian village of Passo together with their Muslim
counterparts were busy cleaning a mosque in the Batumerah
area. Likewise a group of Muslim young people from Batumerah had
worked on a church in Passo, even passing the nights there.
In hotel Amans village elders and young people from several
villagaes of South Seram convened to design the reconstruction of
their villages and especially reconstructing normal social
relations between the two communities.
3. Politics The polical atmosphere is warming up
towards the election of a new governor and vice governor of the
Moluccas, which is to take place next November. The Provincial
House of Representatives has drawn up an election committee. The
four local daily newspapers elaborately report on the development
and on all kinds of opinions and proposals in this context.
C.J.Bφhm msc,
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina
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