Violent conflict between communities in Maluku seems to have never disappeared, oddly enough it often has the same pattern, namely before or nearing general elections or regional head elections. On January 26, 2022, the national mass media reported on 'a clash between villagers in Central Maluku' between Ori and Kariuw Villages, Haruku District. This incident caused two fatalities, a number of houses burned down, and the evacuation of hundreds of residents in Kariuw Village (CNN Indonesia, 01/26/22). According to the police report, the cause is still unclear, presumably due to a misunderstanding between villagers, while other mass media said the conflict was sparked by a land boundary dispute between residents of the two villages. Because the two villages were occupied by two different religious groups, there was concern that it would escalate into religious-based violent conflict as had occurred in the 1999-2004 period. To limit escalation outside, the police dispatched hundreds of security forces and built two posts on the border between the two villages.
Partial analysis or presumption it appears that the conflict is a continuation of the tradition of tension between two communities of followers of different religions. In fact, there are those who go so far as to question the relevance of the unifying values that underlie the agreement in the Malino Agreement between the warring Muslim and Christian groups. Others have questioned whether the pela or gandong ties are still relevant for bonding social cohesion between countries of different religions in Maluku. All of these questions to observers from outside Maluku are not entirely wrong but show that knowledge about the culture of ethnic groups living in eastern Indonesia is still unknown to the public. Sometimes our knowledge about Maluku and the surrounding areas is still constrained by European-centric ethical and scientific frameworks, and cannot photograph fragments of everyday life and ignores the conjuncture of the political landscape that drives social, economic, and social change. culture in this region.
The concept of peace in Maluku is rooted in a series of philosophical values rooted in the history of interaction between ethnic groups in Maluku before the colonial period. Mythological stories tell that all the native people of Maluku come from Nusaina, Seram Island. Then they spread throughout the Maluku islands due to internal conflicts between them. Then, they try to find a peace agreement in order to create harmony and peace. In each area they form an alliance based on the village. Cooley (1962) wrote that the Wemale ethnic group formed an alliance of five villages or uli five and the Alune ethnic group formed an alliance of nine villages or uli syiwa. The conception of 'Syiwalima' which shows peaceful relations between village association members of the alliance between Uli Lima and Uli Shiva, Pata Lima and Pata Shiva, or Lor Lim and Lor Syiuw.
However, these values in practice develop in accordance with the political and economic conjuncture in the Maluku Islands as the center of the world's spice trade. For example, the arrival of the Portuguese to Tanah Hitu in the mid-16th century, which spread Catholic teachings, changed the conflict relationship between pata lima and pata syiwa into a conflictual relationship based on religion, which was designed by imperialist powers. Syiwalima could not work to resolve the Hitu-Portuguese conflict, even Hitu (patalima villages) asked for help from the VOC, Makassar, Ternate and Javanese fleets to defeat the Portuguese who were supported by the Pata Shiva villages.
The political landscape changed during the VOC era and Dutch colonialism in Maluku which defined the identity of the Maluku people, gave a hierarchical label and placed in a diametrical position between inlanders (indigenous people) who were considered primitive or traditional, and burgers (citizens) who were modern and civilized, between Traditional (Islamic) greetings and modern (Christian) Serani. Segregation between the villages of Salam and Serani began during the VOC era, as written by Richard Chauvel. To prevent conflictual relations between villages whose residents had different religious affiliations, the Dutch allowed and encouraged alliances between villages with different religious affiliations in the form of pela and gandong. Bartels (1978/2003) wrote that pela is a form of alliance and cooperation between villages, while pela-gandong or often referred to as 'gandong' is a form of brotherly bond between villages where the residents believe that they come from the same lineage. These various types of pela and gandong have rules, prohibitions, traditions, which are accompanied by punishments for those who break them.
However, after Indonesia's independence, especially during the New Order era, there were two things that weakened the unifying values between villages, due to the enactment of Law 45/1979 which replaced the country with a village and the traditional leadership of the kings with administrative village heads, so that the country which was socio-cultural units become government administrative units. Customs and traditions have begun to weaken and cultural values have been eroded due to bureaucracy and development orientation. This was exacerbated by the presence of preachers from outside Maluku, both Salam and Serani, who put more emphasis on conservative religious practices and saw their religious community as part of the global community of ummah. The younger generation in general today, as a result, feel more bound by religious ties that are stronger than cultural ties. At the end of the New Order period, this condition was exacerbated by religious-based identity politics, so that during communal conflicts, pela had lost its meaning and became ineffective in overcoming and preventing conflicts between different religious groups. Iwamony (2010) in his dissertation explains that pela and gandong are only effective for certain countries or villages that have had alliance agreements in the past or have claims of originating from the same ancestor.
Pela or gandong are generally revitalized ahead of general elections or regional head elections as an instrument to mobilize political support. In this case the belief that they come from the same ancestor is strengthened in local political moments, although it does not rule out the possibility that it is also maintained in daily social life between bonded villagers. Pela was also ineffective when it involved migrants from outside Maluku, especially now that the Moluccan population has mixed with migrants, especially in urban areas as well as in administrative countries and its surroundings. Thus, pela, gandong, and various customs and cultural traditions have undergone changes both consciously and unconsciously. Precisely cultural symbols and cultural alliances become a reference at least for unifying between two different religious communities and become a means of political mobilization.
Returning to the Ori and Kariuw conflict, the problem is not in syiwalima, unifying values, pela, and gandong, but in the weakness of mechanisms both formal and informal in resolving land disputes. The problem of inter-village conflicts, one of which is caused by land conflicts, also often occurs between Islamic countries, such as Hitu and Mamala; and also between Serani countries such as between Porto and Haria in Saparua. Thus, using identity analysis as the main source of conflict in Maluku is a problem. The ever-increasing population of both 'native' Maluku people and 'immigrants' means competition for resources is increasing, including land. Maluku Province and Central Maluku Regency actually already have regulations recognizing the existence of countries, the term for 'traditional villages' in these areas. The problem is that the mapping of customary lands may not have been carried out and also the customary law mechanisms that deal with issues of land boundaries. As mentioned earlier, the presence of cultural and customary symbols is only more prominent in ceremonies of welcoming government officials or electoral political moments.
In reality, the state is not completely autonomous because it allows the intervention of external forces such as the government, political parties and capital. However, at least soa communities (clans) in the country can have the capacity and autonomy to manage disputes in the determination of boundaries and land management, both within the country and between countries. If this problem is left unchecked, then it is possible that in the future, political adventurers can take advantage of and manipulate disputes between residents from two villages with different ethnic or religious affiliations into widespread violent conflicts. This has the potential to disrupt peace processes and strengthen socio-cultural networks that have been built during the post-conflict period.
References:
Bartels, D. (1978). Guarding the invisible mountain: Intervillage alliances, religious syncretism and ethnic identity among Ambonese Christians and Moslems in the Moluccas. PhD thesis in the Cornell University. Ann Arbor Michigan: University Microfilms International.
Bartels, D. (2003). Your god is no longer mine: Moslem – Christian fratricide in the Central Moluccas (Indonesia) after a half-millennium of tolerant co-existence and ethnic unity. In: S. Pannell (Ed.), A state of emergency: Volence, society and the state in Eastern Indonesia (pp. 128-153). Darwin: Northern Territory University Press.
Chauvel, R. (1990). Nationalists, soldiers and separatists: The Ambonese Islands from colonialism to revolt, 1880-1950. Leiden: KITLV Press.
Cooley, FL (1962). Ambonese adat: A general description. Cultural Report Series 10. New Heaven: Yale University Press.
Iwamony, R. (2010). The reconciliatory potential of the pela in the Moluccas: The role of the GPM in this transformation process (Doctoral dissertation, Vrije University of Amsterdam, 2010).
Indonesian CNN. Chronology of Clashes between Villagers in Central Maluku Swallows Lives. (26/02/2022).
https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20220126093301-12-751334/kronologi-bentrok-warga-desa-di-maluku-tengah-telan-korban-jiwa
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