The Conflict in the Moluccas
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Peace and Conflict Studies III Spring Semester 2013 Supervisor: Kristian Steiner Faculty of Culture and Society Department of Global Political Studies The Conflict in the Moluccas: Local Youths’ Perceptions Contrasted to Previous Research Martin Björkhagen Words: 16 434 Abstract The violent conflict in the Moluccas (1999-2002) has occasionally been portrayed in terms of animosities between Christians and Muslims. This study problematizes that statement by analysing several conflict drivers seen through two perspectives. The first purpose of this study was to contrast previous research regarding conflict factors in the Moluccas to the perceptions of the local youths’. There is a research gap regarding the youths’ experiences of the conflict, which this study aims to bridge. A second purpose was to analyse discrepancy between the academic literature and the youths’ bottom-up perspective. The final purpose was to apply the theory of collective guilt to explain and analyse the youths’ memories and perceptions regarding the conflict factors in the Moluccas. The qualitative case study approach was adopted since it could include both in-depth interviews and an assessed literature review. Six in-depth interviews were conducted in Indonesia which explored the youth’s perceptions. The critically assessed literature review was used to obtain data from secondary sources regarding the same conflict factors, as was explored by the interviews. The first part of the analysis exposed a discrepancy between the two perspectives regarding some of the conflict factors. The collective guilt analysis found that the youths only seem to experience a rather limited feeling of collective guilt. This is because all strategies to reduce collective guilt were represented in the youths’ perceptions. The most used strategy was to blame a few ‘black sheep’, or in this context a few provocateurs for the harm inflicted by the in-group, towards the out-group. Keywords: Moluccan youths, conflict in the Moluccas, collective guilt, in-depth interview, qualitative case study Sammanfattning Den våldsamma konflikten på Moluckerna (1999-2002) porträtteras ibland i termer av motsättningar mellan kristna och muslimer. Denna studie problematiserar den bilden genom att analysera flera konfliktfaktorer som belyses ur två perspektiv. Det första syftet med denna studie var att jämföra tidigare forskning gällande konfliktfaktorer i Moluckerna med lokala ungdomars perception. Det finns en forskningslucka rörande ungdomarnas upplevelser av konflikten, vilket denna studie syftar till att överbrygga. Ett andra syfte var att analysera diskrepansen mellan den akademiska litteraturen och ungdomarnas underifrånperspektiv. Det avslutande syftet var att applicera teorin om kollektiv skuldkänsla för att förklara och analysera ungdomarnas minnen och uppfattningar om konfliktfaktorerna i Moluckerna. En kvalitativ fallstudieansats har valts eftersom den kan inkludera både djupintervjuer och en litteraturgenomgång. Sex djupintervjuer genomfördes i Indonesien som utforskade ungdomarnas uppfattningar. Den källkritiskt granskade litteraturgenomgången användes för att erhålla data från sekundärkällor angående samma konfliktfaktorer, som undersöktes I samband med intervjuerna. Den första delen av analysen visade att det finns en diskrepans mellan de två perspektiven när det gäller några av konfliktfaktorerna. Analysen av kollektiv skuldkänsla visade att ungdomarna bara upplevde en begränsad känsla av kollektiv skuld. Detta berodde på att alla strategier som minskar den kollektiva skuldkänslan var representerade i ungdomarnas uppfattningar. Den mest använda strategin var att beskylla några "svarta får", eller i detta fall, några provokatörer för skadan den egna gruppen orsakat den motsatta gruppen. Nyckelord: Ungdomar från Moluckerna, konflikten i Moluckerna, kollektiv skuldkänsla, djupintervju, kvalitativ fallstudie, Acknowledgements First and foremost I want to thank my family for always being there and supporting me. I also would like to thank several other people for helping me with this study, both in Sweden, the U.S.A. and in Indonesia. I initiated the material gathering for this study when I participated in the exchange program between Malmö University and Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta. Therefore, I want to send my gratitude to these institutions for giving me this great opportunity of studying in a different environment. Further, I want to thank CSPS Research Centre in Yogyakarta for welcoming me as an intern and letting me to start with this project under their supervision. Especially Dr. Muhammad Najib Azca and Dr. Eric Hiariej at CSPS. Both have extensive research experience regarding the Moluccas and have provided me with much appreciated guidance when I started my study. I am also very grateful to Mira Andiani for the translation support she provided, including both during the interviews and transcription work. I also want to express my gratitude to my friend Dr. Jesse Rhines in Los Angeles for proofreading and for his kind encouragement. Yet, my deepest gratitude goes out to the brave youths from the Moluccas who volunteered to participate in this study. Without their contribution this study would never have been made possible. Martin Björkhagen August 2013, Malmö, Sweden List of Abbreviations ALA – American Library Association BAPPENAS – Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Nasional (The National Development Planning Agency of Indonesia) BKO – Bawah Kendali Operasi (Extra Non-regional Forces) BRIMOB – Brigade Mobil (Military Police Mobile Brigades) CPRU – Crisis Prevention and Recovery Unit (Jakarta) CSPS – Center for Security and Peace Studies DDII – Dewan Dakwah Islamiyah Indonesia (Indonesian Islamic Outreach Council) FKM – Front Kedaulatan Maluku (Maluku Sovereignty Front) HD Centre – The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue HRW – Human Rights Watch ICG – International Crisis Group ICMI – Indonesian Association of Muslim Intellectuals IDPs – Internally Displaced Persons IDR – Indonesian Rupiah ISAI – Institut Studi Arus Infomasi IMS – International Media Support (Copenhagen) LBH – Jakarta Legal Aid Institute MMC – Maluku Media Centre MPC – Maluku Protestant Church NGO – Non-Governmental Organisation OPM – Organisasi Papua Merdeka (The Free Papua Movement) PRRI – Pemerintah Revolusioner Republik Indonesia (Revolutionary Government of the Indonesian Republic) RMS – Republik Maluku Selatan (the Republic of South Maluku) TNI – Tentara Nasional Indonesia (Indonesian National Military) UGM – Universitas Gadjah Mada (Gadjah Mada University) UNDP – United Nations Development Programme UNICEF – United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund VOC – Vereenigte Oost-Indische Compagnie (the Dutch East-Indies Company) YLBHI – Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Indonesia (Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation) Table of Contents 1. Introduction......................................................................................................................................1 1.1 Contextualization of the Research Problem...............................................................................2 1.2 Purpose Statement and Research Questions.............................................................................3 1.3 Delimitations..............................................................................................................................4 1.4 Outline........................................................................................................................................5 2. Conflict Overview..............................................................................................................................6 2.1 Demographic Profile...................................................................................................................7 2.2 Overview of the Conflict in the Moluccas (1999- 2002).............................................................7 2.3 The Post-Conflict Scenario..........................................................................................................9 3. Methodology...................................................................................................................................10 3.1 A Qualitative Case Study...........................................................................................................10 3.2 In-depth Interviews...................................................................................................................11 3.2.1 Selecting Interviewees……………………………………………………………………………………………….11 3.2.2 Conducting In-depth Interviews…………………………………………………………………………………12 3.2.3 Ethical Aspects, Interpretation and My Role………………………………………………………………12 3.3 Assessment of Secondary Sources............................................................................................14 4. Theoretical Framework....................................................................................................................16 4.1 Collective Guilt...........................................................................................................................16 5. Analysis: Previous Research versus the Youths´ Perceptions...........................................................20 5.1 Religion as Identity and as a Conflict Factor..............................................................................20 5.1.1 Review and Analysis of Previous Research.....................................................................20 5.1.2 The Youths´ Perceptions.................................................................................................21