Ambon (Fides Service) - War in Iraq is stirring up malcontent among Muslims in the Molucca Islands, in eastern Indonesia, where in 1999-2002 there were violent clashes between Muslims and local Protestants. In the capital Ambon, hundreds of students, the girls all with their faces covered, staged anti-American and anti-UN street protests in front of the government building. The students carried banners with words like "Bush is a terrorist", "Bush is mad", "the UN is a puppet in the hands of the USA". Some students shouted that they were ready to join the innocent Iraqi people in the "holy war" against the invading US led coalition.
The protesters made demands and they asked for a new UN office in Ambon not to be opened. Standing in front of the building, they called on the United Nations Organisation representatives to leave the Moluccas, saying that the civil conflict ended a year ago and the UN presence is no longer necessary. However, the demonstration was peaceful, no episodes of violence were reported. At the same time a few hundred other Muslim students went to the Batumerah mosque near Ambon to pray for the people of Iraq.
Meanwhile in Jakarta, religious leaders continue to promote dialogue and tolerance explaining that the war in Iraq is not a war about religion, it is political.
Jesuit Father Ignatius Ismartono, secretary of the Indonesian Bishops' Commission for Interreligious Dialogue says that "interreligious dialogue must start from the point of view of human rights". He points out that respect for human rights is lacking in many Asian countries, those that are with difficulty pulling themselves out of a long civil war (Sri Lanka) and others where religious minorities are denied full expression of belief (India, China, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand). Father Ismartono says: "In Indonesia interreligious dialogue proceeds by stressing that human rights are the point of departure to start a process of collaboration". The priest said that dialogue must have a method based on: collection of data, analysis, building of trust, solving of conflicts. He pointed out that religious communities can make a contribution with regard to the first three, but the last one must be dealt with by civil institutions. PA (Fides Service 26/3/2003 EM lines 31 Words: 368)