Conflict In Maluku Research Articles

Rebuilding Harmony: Social Interactions After the Maluku Conflict

The purpose of this study was to determine the dynamics of social interactions that were passed down from previous generations in students of the BK Study Program after the Maluku conflict. The research method used a qualitative approach with in-depth interviews with students whose families experienced the conflict in Maluku directly in 1999-2002. Through coding analysis, the research identified thematic patterns and meanings that emerged from students' narratives. Based on the results of the study, it was found that the social interaction of post-conflict Counseling students both individually and in groups can be established with active communication between students of different religions with tolerance as an attitude to maintain harmony in social relations during the study period and emphasize the need for integration of social aspects reflected in the study program curriculum so that the unique experience of each post-conflict student passed down from generation to generation can adapt to the campus environment commonly dubbed the "campus of basudara people".

A “Maverick Salafi Political Jihadist” in a Turbulent Period: A Biographical Study of Dr Fauzi

<p>A biographical study through the lens of Mills’ sociological imagination and Erikson’s identity crisis provides a unique understanding of Dr Fauzi AR, a dedicated Islamist. Fauzi grew up in a devout Muslim family in Kauman, Yogyakarta, the heartland of the modernist Islamic organisation Muhammadiyah. He was educated in Muhammadiyah schools and eventually became a qualified medical doctor. He was politically active in the Islamic United Development Party and joined Laskar Jihad, a Salafi-Wahabi paramilitary group, during the inter-religious conflict in Maluku in 2000. This article argues that the political turbulence during the democratic transition in 1998–1999 led Fauzi to have an identity crisis, which spurred his desire to participate in jihad (holy war). Afterwards, Fauzi became a reformed “maverick post-jihadist,” in that he was unpredictable yet competent. He was unorthodox in his methods, remaining active in mainstream political Islam through the United Development Party while also engaging in physical jihad, which is contradictory because participation in partisan politics is forbidden by the Salafi doctrine. He also remained a heavy smoker although smoking is forbidden by Salafi religious decree. He further defied Salafism by supporting his wife in an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the national parliament as a member of the secular-nationalist party Gerindra in the 2009 election. This case study of Fauzi AR reflects the complex and multifaceted nature of political Islam and Islamic movements in the post-Soeharto era, including those who resorted to extremism and violence to achieve greater Islamisation of society.</p>

The Role of Indonesian National Armed Forces in the Civil Conflict in Maluku

The civil conflict that occurred in Ambon caused the Indonesian government to send the Indonesian National Armed Forces to assist the police in securing Ambon. The involvement of the military and security guards in the Ambon area proved helpful in providing a sense of security, even though many people criticize the involvement of the Indonesian National Armed Forces in securing the conflict in Ambon. The study methodology is descriptive qualitative. Researchers conducted field research in Ambon. through interviews with the community, religious leaders, community leaders, and military leaders. The author has also conducted archival research. The results of the study show that the Indonesian National Armed Forces played an important role in assisting in securing the Ambon conflict. Although the Ambon conflict has ended, the Indonesian National Armed Forces is still assigned to assist the police in security.
 Keywords: military, civil conflict, Maluku

Elaborating Conflict in Maluku Based on Dialogical Liberative Perspective

The conflict in Maluku is one of the largest religious conflicts that has ever occurred in Indonesia. This study aims to elaborate the relationship between conflict in Maluku and interreligious and cultural dialogue based on a dialogical-liberative perspective. By using the library research method, relying on books and journals related to research questions, this study attempts to discuss forms of interreligious dialogue and pre- and post-conflict culture in Maluku with a liberative dialogue approach. This study argues that liberative dialogue is a relevant approach for inter-religious dialogue in Maluku. The results of this study indicate that liberative dialogue can be an alternative for elaborating the conflict in Maluku. [Konflik di Maluku adalah salah satu konflik agama terbesar yang pernah terjadi di Indonesia. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengelaborasi relasi antara konflik di Maluku dengan dialog antaragama dan budaya berdasar pada perspektif dialogis-liberatif. Dengan menggunakan pendekatan library reseach, dengan mengandalkan buku-buku dan jurnal yang berkaitan dengan pertanyaan-pertanyaan penelitian, penelitian ini berusaha mendiskusikan bentuk-bentuk dialog antarumat beragama dan budaya pra dan pasca konflik di Maluku dengan pendekatan dialog liberatif. Penelitian ini berargumentasi bahwa dialog liberatif adalah pendekatan yang relevan bagi dialog antar agama di Maluku. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa dialog liberatif bisa menjadi alternatif untuk mengelaborasi konflik di Maluku.]

Forgiveness Meaning in the Lyric of Gandong Song: Linguistics Point of View

This study aims to describe the memorable experience with the conflict, the feelings of the Maluku people, and the influence of the meaning of the lyrics of the Gandong song when listening to the Gandong song, in the context of sustainability of the community’s life Orang Basudara in Maluku. This study used the qualitative method. The primary data were collected using questionnaires with closed and open-ended questions. While literature reviews were about the meaning of the lyrics was collected as secondary data. There were 224 respondents in total, which consist of 53 male respondents and 165 female respondents in the gender category, with 6 people choosing not to identify their gender, and also all from other different backgrounds. Further, the Gandong song, which is a Malukan people's rhythm song, is very popular and frequently sung during conflict and post-conflict times. Subsequently, the result revealed that the respondent listened to the song on several occasions. The lyrics contain a range of word classes, including nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, pronominal phrases, and numerical terms. The term Gandong appears more frequently than other terms. Linguistically means that the song gives stressing on the Gandong relationship as a pearl of important local wisdom for all people living in Maluku. The majority of respondents (99.6 % of 224 respondents) have ever listened to the Gandong song, and it has influenced their feelings about the conflict in Maluku as a reminder of a harmonious life (82. 2%), drawing back from revenge (9, 9%), and 4% of people accepted it to forget the conflict, while the other respondents will forget the feeling of mutual suspicion and forgive rudeness.

GEREJA ORANG BASUDARA: THE CONTESTED NARRATIVE FROM THE PROTESTANT CHURCH OF MOLUCCAS

This article describes the Gereja orang basudara concept in The Protestant Church of Maluku as the umbrella protecting and showing civic engagement, such as our strong tradition, religious institution, and mutual trust in Maluku. There are two essential points which are the history of Muslims-Christians' engagement in building social interaction and problem-solving after conflict by large, a sphere of solidarity. This research employed narrative research on the qualitative research method through historical and autoethnography approaches. The research result found that, first, the Gereja orang basudara term lives on the grassroots of society but did not show up in the institutional regime, which caused the failure of religious institutions and leaders to stop the violence during the social conflict in Maluku in 1999. After the battle, the Protestant Church of Moluccas practices peacebuilding by claiming their space and sphere as the room for all, where the church exists not only as a building for Christian people but also for Muslim people. Finally, the church does peacebuilding similar to peacebuilding in everyday life.

Komunikasi Rekonsiliasi Bingkai Ale Rasa Beta Rasa Provokator Damai Salam Sarane di Kota Ambon Maluku

This study aims to determine and analyze the reconciliation process carried out after the 1999 conflict in Ambon City, Maluku Province. The method used is a descriptive qualitative approach, in which the researcher makes observations involved, in-depth interviews, FGDs, and documentation of the object under study. The theory used is the Symbolic Interactionist and Decision Making, Identification, and Control. The results showed that the reconciliation carried out by peaceful provocateurs used symbols in the frame of brotherhood such as Salam Sarane and Place of Worship. After the 99 conflict in Maluku, Ambon City became the window of world civilization agreed in the world peace gong. The reconciliation effort in realizing peace is a strategic step taken by combining socio-cultural and religious values. Efforts made in the form of Dialogue and Meetings both within the community and places of worship. Suggestion that the researcher can give is that the Peace Provocateurs must put themselves in place and improve their capability in facing the social behavior of the Maluku people going forward.

Actors’ Construction in Building Social Harmony in Tamilouw, Seram Island, Maluku Province

The Conflict in Maluku on January 19th, 1999 affected the harmony of life of the Moluccas universally. As a result, the people of Maluku live segregated in their respective communities. However, there are still groups of people who continue to live in harmony within the framework of diversity, namely the Tamilouw people on Seram-Maluku Island. The social harmony found in Tamilouw which is multi-ethnic and multi-religious is inseparable from the role of actors, and the workings of a systematic social structure. This study aimed to find out how the actors construct in the frame of diversity to achieve social harmony in the daily lives of Tamilouw people. The discipline approach used was the sociology of knowledge, using the reality construction theory of Peter Berger and Luckmann. The research paradigm used was constructivism with a qualitative approach. Key informants were religious leaders, indigenous leaders, community leaders, indigenous people and migrants. Data collection was carried out using observation, interview, and documentation techniques. The techniques of data analysis was the data flow analysis model according to Miles & Huberman. Based on the research findings, data analysis and discussion, it can be concluded that: Social harmony maintained in Tamilouw, Seram-Maluku Island, is the result of the integration of four main actors, namely religious leaders, traditional leaders, government figures and youth leaders. These four actors have a network or bond of trust, work strategies and rules of prevailing norms.

Baileo as a peace model for Christian and Muslim communities in Maluku

This article aims at analysing Baileo as a peace model for Christian and Muslim communities from the gandong countries in Maluku. The countries include Hutumuri (Christian), Christian Sirisori, Islamic Sirisori and Tamilou (Islam). Baileo as a peace model was lost during the 1999 social conflict in Maluku. Baileo (bale) is a place to discuss problems and a place for implementation of customary rituals in the country, whilst gandong is a relationship between two or more countries based on blood or hereditary relations. The approaches used are cultural anthropology and functional theology. This research study uses a qualitative research method with observation and interview techniques for data collection and Appreciative Inquiry (AI) model for data analysis. As shown in the Results and Discussion section, firstly, Baileo is a place to create solidarity between Christian and Muslim communities because of the gandong ties between them, which were very good before the conflict; secondly, the local traditions of Baileo and gandong have become a meeting point for Christian and Muslim communities because Baileo has sacred values, and gandong has mutual care and protection values as an implementation of ancestral promise; thirdly, reviving the fraternal solidarity of Christian and Muslim communities based on collective memory through shared awareness, cultural romanticism and retelling; and fourthly, the implementation of the traditional ritual of the inauguration of Raja Hutumuri in Baileo as a manifestation of peace for Christian and Muslim communities in Maluku because of the absence of mutual suspicion and equality between Christianity and Muslims.Contribution: The contribution of this study is that local culture, in this case Baileo, is very relevant for solutions or a common ground for resolving socio-religious conflicts at local, national and global levels. Thus, it needs to be developed continuously.

Where is the violence in identity-related violence? The generative potentiality of violence in ethno-religious conflict and mass purging in Indonesia

This article argues that we have to address the generative potentiality of violence in drawing a rigorous depiction of identity-related violence. Works on identity-related violence often explain the violence as culminating from the perpetrators’ sense of identity. Even though to some extent such an explanation sheds light on the perpetrators’ motivation, it is prone to reducing the actuality of violence to a mere epiphenomenon. In actual circumstances of conflict and purging, the frightening and engrossing horror of violence convincingly imposes the antagonistic discursive boundary of self and other on the involved subject’s senses. As an efficacious embodiment of identity, violence also entails the subjects perpetually performing it in a way that reinforces the facticity of the fictive categories of identity and eventually escalates the violence. This article makes its case through an examination of two incidents of massive violence in Indonesia: the 1966-69 communists purging and the 1999-2002 ethno-religious conflict in Maluku.

Tahuri: Symbol of the Christian-Muslim Community Peace in Tehoru and Telutih, Central Maluku, Indonesia

This study departs from the social conflict in Maluku in 1999. The conflict separated the Christian and Muslim communities in Tehoru and Telutih Districts, Central Maluku, Indonesia. Then, the Regional Government of Central Maluku Regency reconciled by returning the Christian community to both Districts. However, the Christian community still felt anxious and insecure because peace is only carried out by the Government Agency. Both communities created Tahuri symbol as a peace symbol between them. In 2014, they made Tahuri monument, and it was inaugurated on December 7, 2016. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to find the meaning of Tahuri symbol as peace of Christian and Muslim communities in Tehoru and Telutih Districts. The focus of this study the peace symbol created by both communities of Tehoru and Telutih. This study employs Symbolic Anthropology to find the meaning of symbols accepted by humans through relations with others and their natural world. Data gathered through observation and interviews in both districts and presented using a descriptive analysis model. The result shows that Tahuri symbol has two important principles: the inclusive principle and mutual trust principle. Besides, for the Christian and Muslim communities, the Tahuri symbol means collective identity and social cohesion. Both communities contextualized these two principles and meanings in their social and religious life so that social and religious dynamics cannot reduce them. They live in harmony. The peace through the Tahuri symbol is maintained to this day.

Interaksi Antar Dua Komunitas Agama (Islam-Kristen) Pasca Konflik di Desa Latta Kota Ambon

Latta Village is one of the villages besides Wayame Village which did not experience the impact of the Maluku conflict in 1999, even though the people were multi-religious (Islam and Christian). The people of Latta Village remain united and maintain the common life order between Islam and Christianity that has been fostered from the beginning. Relationships or social relations remain well intertwined with one another. Research has been conducted on the interaction between two religious communities (Islam-Christians) post-conflict in Latta Village, Ambon City. This study aims to describe the social interactions that occur in the community using a qualitative approach. Based on the results of the study, it was found that there was an interaction relationship that remained intertwined in the lives of the people of Latta Village before and after the conflict. The relationship occurred because of good contact and communication between the Islamic community and the Christian community, and also because of the intervention of the Village Head, Imams, Priests and the community as a whole. Therefore, it can be concluded that the interaction relationships must remain maintained in order to create a life of a peaceful and harmonious society.Keywords: social interaction, religious community,conflict

Development of Integration Education Model Pela-Gandong Local Based on Local Content in Primary Schools in Ambon City

This study aims to develop abased social integration education model Pela-Gandong as a local content formed through the togetherness of life of the brothers based on kinship values and customary institutions in the context of cultural local wisdom in Maluku. The implementation of the development of this model was based on the desire to recognize, maintain and preserve Maluku culture as an ancestral heritage, which had experienced the shock of harmony in the lives of brothers due to the Maluku conflict in 1999-2004, so through Pela-Gandong based social integration education in Maluku it can be used as a cultural instrument in the intellectual life of the nation but also as an effort to maintain the nobility of the values of the nation's own culture. This study uses a research development method (R & D) using collaboration from the learning design model Borg and Gall with the ADDIE model (Analysis-Design-Develop-Implement-Evaluate), which produces based local content learning products Pela-Gandongas a learning resource local contents of the Maluku region that are intended for elementary school students with the theme "Beautiful Togetherness Pela-Gandong", which refers to the 2013 curriculum used in Indonesia. The target of this study was fourth grade students (four) at SD Inpres Latta, Baguala-Ambon District. The results of this study indicate that the development of based social integration education models is Pela-Gandong- very effective to be used by fourth grade elementary school students as a local content of learning which is shown through the effectiveness of learning products using minimum completeness criteria (KKM), so that Pela-Gandong based social integration education is very relevant for fourth grade elementary school students not only as a local content in introducing Maluku culture, but more than that, namely as a cultural instrument that is effective in revitalizing and transforming contextual cultural values based on local wisdom in Maluku

Malino: Kota Perdamaian dan Kawasan Wisata di Gowa 1946-2002

This study aims to find out the general picture of Malino as a conference and tourist venue that started from 1946 to 2002, and also explained the background of the Malino conference in Tinggimoncong Sub-district. This research uses a historical research method consisting of four stages, namely heuristic (searching and collecting sources), source criticism (internal criticism and ektern), interpretation (source interpretation) and historiography (historical writing). Methods of data collection is done by conducting field research consisting of interviews and collecting archives and related literature. This study is a historical research with qualitative descriptive approach, so that in the process of research using research methods in accordance with historical scientific rules consisting of several stages. The stages are heuristics, criticism, interpretation, and historiography. The results of this study indicate that Malino as a place of conference and tourist attractions, in 1946 was the beginning of Malino serve as the venue for the establishment of NIT conferences by the Dutch colonial, then in the reform era between 2001 and 2002 there are at least two important activities of peace negotiations Poso conflict and the Maluku conflict also held in Malino where the negotiations reached a peace agreement between the conflicting parties. In addition to Malino as a place of peace as well as a tourist area where since 1975 Malino serve as a tourist destination in South Sulawesi, where Malino as a natural tourist destination and cultural and historical tourism.

Konflik Komunal: Maluku 1999-2000

AbstractThis study aims to explain the conflict Ambon, political upheaval in North Maluku to ethnic and religious conflicts 1999-2000. This study uses historical method. Historical research includes five stages: topic selection, heuristics, criticism, interpretation, and historiography. The conflict that occurred since 19 January 1999 Maluku is a bloody event that coincides with Muslims celebrating the Eid al-Fitr 1419 Hijri. The conflict stems from a dispute between an angkot driver, a Christian Jacob Lauhery with Nursalim, an Islam of the Bugis Red Stone. Conflict then developed into religious conflict (Islam and Christian). In North Maluku conflicts also occur, local political upheaval, North Maluku causing polarization in society to ethnic and religious conflicts. The North Maluku conflict is also part of a power struggle. Another factor is the creation of a new sub-district of Makian Malifut based on PP. No.42 / 1999 has been rejected by the Kao community because it is considered contrary to customary law. The event spread to Tidore, Ternate, Jailolo and Bacan. The North Maluku conflict claimed thousands of lives, homes and places of worship, both Muslims and Christians burned. During the conflict, Pela Gandong in Ambon, Maluku and indigenous people in Maluku Kie Raha as a customary and cultural system no longer functions as a strong social bond. Keywords: Conflict, Communal, Maluku, Ethnicity

MANAJEMEN KONFLIK DALAM FILM MY NAME IS KHAN PERSPEKTIF KONSEP DAKWAH

History records a series of realities of conflict in the archipelago. The conflict in Sampit 2011, for example, happened due to misscommunication between ethnic Madura and Indigenous Dayak communities. SARA conflict in Maluku and Poso 1999-2001. Tragic and heartbreaking. Ideally, such conflicts need not be staged, even take victims. Given that no religion teaches it. But conflict is a necessity. Therefore, expertise in conflict management needs to be emphasized. This paper examines conflict management in the movie My Name is Khan (2010) viewed from the perspective of the three concept of da'wah (An-Nahl: 125). (1) Bil Hikmah (2) Al-Mauidzah al-hasanah (3) Al-Mujadalah. Thesis statement from this paper, My Name is Khan is a fairly mature Islamic film. With the jargon of My Name is Khan, and I am not a Terrorist, Director Karan Kapoor managed to present this slick film as a representation to end the conflict that includes Bil Hikmah, Al-Mauidzah al-hasanah and Mujadalah. But unfortunately, this film also contains about the excessive pluralis.

Dinamika Hubungan Muslim-Kristen di Surakarta, 1999-2000

This article describes the dynamics of Muslim-Christian relations in Surakarta during democratic transition era after New Order demise. This article uses history method consists of heuristic, critics, interpretation, and historiography. Based on the research it is known that the dynamics of Muslim-Christian relations during initial years of Reform era (1999-2000) was shaped by solidarity actions for communal conflict in Maluku and “blasphemy” case that ended in the court. In both cases the role of groups that carried religious identities have prominent role. Such groups emerged after the fall of New Order which repressed all kind of expressions and groups that was considered disrupt harmony by using primordial sentiments, including religious sentiment.

Religious Violence and Conciliation in Indonesia: Christians and Muslims in the Moluccas

Religious Violence and Conciliation in Indonesia: Christians and Muslims in the Moluccas. By Sumanto Al Qurtuby. Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge, 2016. Hardcover: 215pp. Between 1999 and 2001, rival ethnic and religious communities fought violent conflicts in five Indonesian provinces which led to large-scale loss of life, displacement and destruction. In the decade and a half since then, a series of in-depth quality academic studies have given us a good understanding of the causes and dynamics of most of these conflicts. However, among these conflicts the one in Maluku Province--perhaps the most severe of the five--has been relatively understudied. With Religious Violence and Conciliation in Indonesia, Sumanto Al Qurtuby has done an excellent job of helping to fill that gap. Indeed, he has written one of the best studies of the Maluku conflict. By synthesising previous literature and adding new insights from his own extensive fieldwork among both Muslims and Christians in Maluku, Al Qurtuby provides a detailed account of the origins, distinctive evolution and resolution of the conflict. Much of the book is riveting, containing new and important information which will be very useful for scholars of Indonesia, conflict, peacebuilding and religion. One main focus is on the role of religion--religious networks, organizations, discourses, and practices (p. 5)--in provoking the violence and in facilitating its end. Unlike many polemical studies which see religion as either all important or irrelevant to conflict, Al Qurtuby takes a nuanced and healthily sceptical approach to his analysis. Chapter One provides a dramatic account of the early stages of the fighting and its rapid spread to the villages and islands outside Ambon City. The author vividly illustrates the various roles of important actors in the conflict, particularly in the way they used religious scripture and doctrine to first justify the violence and then to end it. The author provides a detailed comparative discussion of the use of religious scripture and concepts of jihad and holy war by Muslim and Christian leaders which this reviewer has not seen in any other study. He shows how local Muslim leaders saw and framed the conflict as jihad from its earliest days, well before the entry of the Java-based Laskar Jihad. Yet the arrival of that militia and others such as Laskar Mujahidin brought the ideas of Sayyid Qutb and other Salafi scholars into the conflict. Grasping the exact role of religion in facilitating collective violence is one of the most challenging tasks for a scholar of religious conflicts, but Al Qurtuby pulls it off admirably. There is fascinating new information throughout the discussion of all phases of the conflict. The author finds that local fighters lost enthusiasm for the conflict once they realized they were being manipulated by those in power, surely a hypothesis worth testing against other cases. …

Wpływ religii i tradycji na konflikt na Molukach w latach 1999-2002

Niniejszy artykuł dotyczy wpływu religii i tradycji na konflikt, który miał miejsce na indonezyjskich Molukach w latach 1999-2002. Silne wpływy Holendrów w okresie kolonialnym sprawiły, że na wyspach utrzymała się chrześcijańska większość, co stanowiło wyjątek w zdominowanym przez muzułmanów państwie. Moluki wydawały się idealnym przykładem obszaru, gdzie panuje tolerancja i dialog między różnymi wyznaniami, aż do wybuchu konfliktu etnoreligijnego na przełomie XX i XXI wieku. W artykule zostanie omówiona geneza starć między muzułmanami a chrześcijanami oraz wykorzystanie zapomnianego prawa zwyczajowego i religii do procesu pokojowego.

Christianity and Militancy in Eastern Indonesia: Revisiting the Maluku Violence

IntroductionThis article discusses the destructive contributions of religious identities, discourses, doctrines, teachings, symbols, actors, organizations, and networks, especially within Christianity, in the intensification of communal violence in the Moluccas, particularly in the city of Ambon and the province of Maluku more generally. I have analyzed elsewhere (Sumanto 2015) the damaging roles of Islam and Moluccan Muslim jihadists in the exacerbation of collective violence, so I will not repeat it here. What is striking in the literature on the Maluku conflict is that some scholars tend to emphasize, if not overemphasize, the central role of the Laskar Jihad, a Java-based Islamist paramilitary group, in intensifying the violence, while neglecting the contribution of Ambonese or Moluccan jihadist groups, and to a greater degree Ambonese/Moluccan Christian ones. Some scholars (e.g. Sidel 2006) even tend to portray Christians as victims and Muslims as perpetrators of the havoc. This article will thus complement the existing otherwise fine literature on the Maluku conflict.It is imperative, however, to note that even though this article focuses on the roles of Christians and Christianity in the fighting, this does not mean that all Christian communities in Maluku were engaged in the battlefield and in the opposition against Muslim groups. As I wrote elsewhere (Sumanto 2013; 2014), there were a number of ChristianMuslim peace groups such as the Peace Provocateurs, the Concerned Women Movement, the Young Ambassadors for Peace, the Baku Bae Movement, the Team 20 Wayame, the Titian Peace Institute, the Maluku Interfaith Center, to name but a few. While some groups were no longer active after the end of the collective conflict, others are still working on peace-related activities, establishing intergroup trust, rebuilding communal ties, healing traumatized war victims, and so forth. There are also numerous individuals- religious leaders, academics, activists, journalists, village chiefs, conflict resolution practitioners, and the like-who have been working tirelessly for peaceful coexistence and interreligious conciliation since the beginning of the violence in 1999.As for the role of the church, particularly the Moluccan Protestant Church, the region's largest Christian congregation, this also varies from place to place and from era to era, depending on who ran the Protestant Synod and Catholic Diocese, and on local pastors, church officials, and local Christian communities. Whereas in some areas of the hot spots (such as Rumahtiga, Poka, Paso, and some places in Ambon city such as Kudamati and Mardika), the Church directly led the violence, it was in the opposing camp in other places. While some Christian elites forced the Synod to back and provide financial and institutional resources for warfare and Christian militias groups, others (such as the former chairman of GPM Synod, Rev. I. J. W. Hendriks and his successor Rev. Dr. John Ruhulessin) defended the Church and Christianity as a source of peace and reconciliation. Similarly while some pastors and church elites established a group of Christian warriors (see below), others created a group of peacemakers.In addition, although this article focuses on the role of religion, nevertheless I do not argue that religion in itself is the sole source of violence. Certainly religion does not cause communal violence. Just as guns do not kill people, religion does not slaughter human beings. However, religion provides teachings, doctrines, rituals, symbols, metaphors, and discourses that can be easily used, misused, or manipulated by those (such as actors of violence, agents or managers of conflict, and interest groups) with material or immaterial interests. This is precisely what happened in Maluku where radical Christians (and militant Muslims)-both elites and lay people-utilized, translated, and transformed religious symbols, doctrines, and discourses into Moluccan social settings, not only to awaken a spirit of fighting or justify their violent acts, but also to protect and safeguard their lives. …