More than one year has lapsed since the first eruption on January 19, 1999 of the clashes between Christians and Muslims in the Islands of Maluku. No casualty figures have been released formally by the government, but some officials have been quoted as placing the death toll at 17,000. Estimates of the number of refugees range from 305,000 to almost 500,000. Most of the refugees are Muslims – who are the minority in Ambon city and Southeast Maluku (Tual islands), the majority in northern part of Maluku but have approximately the same number as Christians in Central Maluku.

Thousands of military personnel are now posted in the conflict areas, which cover almost all parts of the 1,027 islands region. Tension remains, however. A team of doctors, who have recently returned from Galela where some 5,000 Muslim refugees are sheltering, reported of sweeping out the forest surrounding Galela and finding approximately 1,000 Muslim corpses.

Galela, Tobelo and Ambon are among the worst affected areas. Dr Joserizal called Galela, the small sub-district in the northern tip of North Maluku province and the sole remaining Muslim holdout, a "ghost town". Mosques and buildings were razed to the ground. Dried blood darkens its soil. The stench of putrefying flesh from corpses scattered around overwhelming while flies fill up fields, the streets, remnants of houses. As of March, only 300 troops were reportedly guarding the area from the almost daily attack of the Christian mobs.

The refugees in Galela are suffering from diarrhoea, dehydration and respiratory tract infection as well as food shortage because the Christian forces surrounding the area have cut off all communications that no supplies can get through. "They cut off telephone lines, sealed off any paths leading to Galela, there’s no gasoline here, no fuel, power generators could not be used," Joserizal said.

Among the refugees was 22-year-old Munir of Popilo village who described how he and his neighbours were pursued by Christian men in red headbands wielding swords and spears in the 31 December 1999 attack. He spoke of how he felt a spear enter his torso, how he fell down and feigned death. He felt the hands that lifted and threw him onto a pile of dead bodies outside the Al Muhajirin Mosque. "I was buried under six layers of bodies.. some still gasping their last breath," Munir told the doctors. "Our attackers snatched a number of babies, threw them up on the air, and impaled the small bodies with their swords before they had time to reach the ground. They picked several children at random, tied, and hung them and used them as targets for their arrows…"

In the neighbouring island of Ternate, seven-year-old Faiz Karbi from Gorua village in Tobelo sub-district is now living alone among some 100,000 Muslim refugees. His left leg was crushed in a bomb explosion. Traumatised, he could only sit and stare at people. He had witnessed the killing of his parents and his six siblings during an attack. He escaped death because his grandmother managed to drag him away and hide him under a bridge; the elderly woman was also killed minutes after she left the bridge and Faiz. The boy was later found by another refugee from Gorua on his way to the refugee centres.

"Aid workers in Indonesia’s ravaged Moluccas (Maluku) said they were burying hundreds of charred and rotting Muslim corpses from recent attacks by Christians. Workers from a local Muslim aid group in Halmahera island, in the north of the Maluku spice islands, told Reuters by telephone they had found hundreds of putrefying bodies, many burnt in mosques in three neighboring villages." (Reuters, 10 January 2000)

"Don’t believe the rumours about there being a massacre. It was just normal fighting between the two sides," said Maluku regional military commander Max Markus Tamaela (Associated Press, 5 January 2000)

"I have walked for four days and nights in the middle of forest of Kasigunc along with my four children. The youngest one is still 19 days old, while the oldest one has a mental disability. We should walk through the forest without any food and drinks. We were so afraid of the red army who always is ready to attack us anytime. My husband …??? he was missing when he was praying in the mosque that afternoon. I think he has been killed by the red army. Only his sandal and clothes were left in the mosque (Sitria, a widower, 33 years old)

I was one of the victims who are still alive from the massacre of Walisongo Islamic School. For that I should jump from the truck that was carrying my friends. All of our hands were tied and our eyes were closed. Those attackers wore black masks and clothes, just like the ninja, with the red headband. Almost one hundreds people were slaughtered in that Islamic School, included my friends who were still in the truck. After jumping from the truck, I had to swim along the river of Poso for fourteen hours. My left thigh was shot and my back was seriously injured because of the blade. The red army kept shooting at me from the edge of the river, at last I arrived to the …. . Thanks to Allah that I’m still alive (Muhammad Ilham, 23 years old, one of the teacher of the WalisongoIslamic School)

Sulawesi, once known as Celebes, is home to an amazing variety of people. Fishermen inhabit its coast, catching flying fish, mackerel and squid. There are lowland-dwelling people who farm wet and dry rice, maize, vegetables, coffee, cocoa and cloves, ebony wood, etc.

Over 75 percent of its population is Muslim. The proportion is even higher in the densely populated coastal and valley regions, where traders, farmers and fishermen of Bugis, Makassarese, Kaili and Gorontalo origin have settled and brought Islam with them. The Javanesse from Java island has been settled there as transmigrants since 1962.

Poso, situated right in the centre of Central Sulawesi, has 21 districts scattered around the region. It takes six hours by road from Palu, the capital of Cenral Sulawesi province to Poso, through a very dangerous, steep and narrow road called the Trans-Sulawesi Highway.

The population of Poso was less than half a million, 416736 people in 1998. There were 414 mosques, 140 small mosques (langgar), 67 mushollas (halls in office buildings / school/ colleges, etc for praying) and about 392 churches, mainly Protestant, Catholic. Poso itself has at least 515 priests, based in Tentena (57 km from Poso), Napu, Tagolu and Ampana .

As part of this they also saw it necessary to win seats in the local government. At this they have been successful, as people of Christian background own most major positions within the government.

Meanwhile, the people who lived in and around Poso City, who happened to be Muslim, became very prosperous due to their farming such as cocoa, coconut, cloves and trading.

A 1998 election of a local governor was won by a Muslim candidate, which seemed to displease some Christian groups. From there the Christians started to create or set up little incidents and offensive acts were carried out by these group toward Muslim:

I. December 1998: It was a coincidence that Christmas time was during Ramadhan when Muslims were fasting. During Ramadhan, a group of Christians were aggravating those doing tarawih (night prayer), by becoming drunk in the front yard of a mosque. The inebriated/drunk group were asked to leave by one of the mosque wardens. They accepted at first but they weren’t happy. The next day, when the mosque warden was wondering around Poso to wake the Muslims up for sahur (or breakfast), the Christian group stopped the person by offering him to eat pork meat for sahur. He was brutally attacked by the Christian group and then he ran away from them to the mosque. He finally collapsed in the Mosque.

Muslims of the area become outraged and destroyed almost all shops selling alcohol. They tried to find the killers, discovering eventually that they were seeking protection inside a church. The Muslims’ plan to exact revenge upon the group soon lost self-control, and the church (the oldest church in Poso) was burnt down after the group had escaped.

II. April 2000: (Sixteen months later) abusive Christian groups came to retaliate in much the same petty yet offensive manner as before.

III. May 2000: saw the groups turn to extremely aggressive activity whilst wearing black uniforms, black face paint or masks and red bands. They called themselves ‘Black Bat’ raids and attacks were made on Muslim villagers who were taken hostage, tortured, and killed, the bodies either thrown into the River Poso, buried or burned.

It was apparent that the large trucks of Christian attackers were well-trained and had specific plans regarding the attacks, as they were always committed very suddenly in the dark, either after Maghrib or Fajar prayer times. The victims targeted were men and teenage boys, whilst their families witnessed their murders and the looting and burning of their houses and property.

The most targeted villagers were in Sintuwulemba (9 kms from Poso) where 100% of the population were Muslim, andwhere a Muslim boarding school (Pesantren Walisongo/Walisongo Boarding School) was held. Almost 95% of men from this village disappeared or were killed by the militia.

The majority of Muslim refugees travelled to the safe areas of Palu and Parigi, though some remained in Poso itself, near the Police Station.

Whilst the total number of Muslims being killed are around 1.500 — only 20% were found. The Police and Army are still searching for bodies, however, the number of missing persons and their whereabouts also remains unknown. We assumed that the victims were thrown into very deep valleys and thrown into the river.

The current situation is that Poso city is controlled by the Army (TNI) and Brimob. However, there are still some Christian attackers residing and concentrated in Tentena (South of Poso) and Ampana, anticipating their next attack or until the army leaves Poso and its surrounding areas.

Somehow the Poso conflict is not the same as the conflict in Maluku and Ambon as they are still trying to gain ‘Poso’ as their ideal place. They are still trying to enter Poso by so many ways or pretend they want peace and reconciliate whilst attacking and killing the villagers is still happening here and there.

The total number of refugees at the end of August stood at around 18 755 people, or 4200 families. They can be found scattered throughout Central Sulawesi, though most of them are situated in Palu city and Poso city and Parigi (near Palu).

The refugees, meanwhile, are in critical need of basic amenities such as food, medicine, clothing, mattresses, blankets, and educational supplies. The medical team is under-staffed, under-equipped and in crucial need of further funds and medicine. It is in this help that our brothers and sisters in Islam wherever you are, we believe could make an immense difference.

Thousands of children have been traumatised and scarred for life by the violence…Hundreds of thousands of people have nowhere to go, battling injuries, ill health and starvation to stay alive…Do not let them become mere statistics! Do not let them be forgotten! Pray for them. Remember them. Support them to rebuild their lives. Local NGOs need medication, clothing and food for the refugees. Please help in any way you can….

Pos Keadilan Peduli Ummat –Jakarta

Pusat Advokasi Hukum dan Hak Asasi Manusia Indonesia (PAHAM) – Indonesian Advocacy Center for Law and Human Right- Jakarta

Education Team for Humanity (Et-Forty) – Jakarta

Center for Islamic Da’wah and Education - Tempe, NSW Phone : (02) 9558 - 8533

IQRO Foundation PO BOX 233 – Lakemba – NSW, Phone : (02) 9758-6712

- Acc. Name: IQRO Foundation Inc.

Acc. No: MCCU, 083422-246-00464-5, deposit only at National Australia Bank, Australia

- Acc. Name: Pusat Advokasi Hukum dan HAM Indonesia

Acc. No: Bank Mandiri, Dewi Sartika Branch East Jakarta, No. 006.0000.340.996

Website: http://www.poskeadilan.org

http://www.geocities.com/ pahamind/

http://www.merc.org