Jakarta – Religious leaders in Indonesia's Papua province have met regional authorities to discuss the entry of a militant Islamic militia into the mainly Christian province, an official said Thursday.
"The governor held talks with leaders of the Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian faiths on Wednesday," said Henke, secretary to Papua Governor Jacobus Solossa. "They discussed the presence of the Laskar Jihad," he told AFP, declining to elaborate.
Laskar Jihad was blamed for inflaming the deadly Muslim-Christian conflict in Maluku province after sending thousands of fighters there in May 2000. It also sent fighters to Poso in Central Sulawesi province to help Muslims in battles against Christians. Recent government-brokered peace pacts have ended both conflicts, which cost thousands of lives.
The militia's move into Muslim-dominated western districts of Papua was first alleged two years ago, but it is only in recent months that the group has acknowledged it is establishing bases there.
A coalition of Papuan religious, tribal and community groups last month accused Laskar Jihad of trying to stir up religious conflict by circulating provocative newsletters and giving fiery sermons in Sorong and Fak Fak.
They were also accused of telling worshippers in mosques that the nearly three-decades-old separatist movement in Papua was a Christian movement, and of training anti-independence militia units.
At Wednesday's meeting the government and religious leaders agreed to monitor Laskar Jihad's activities in Papua, the state Antara news agency reported. "The secure conditions in Papua must be safeguarded, so there will be no conflict like those that have happened in [the Maluku capital] Ambon and Poso," Governor Solossa was quoted as saying.
He said inter-faith relations in Papua, where mainly Christian Melanesians make up the majority of the 2.1 million people, had always been harmonious. Solossa urged people not to be provoked by unnamed parties who "wished to disrupt Papua's peaceful condition."
A Laskar Jihad spokesman, Ayip Syarifuddin, last month denied that his group had ever "issued statements or leaflets that can provoke hatred for certain religious groups." The group calls itself a humanitarian organisation.
Police have arrested two of the paramilitary group's members in Fak Fak for carrying home-made firearms, Antara reported.
Papua has been home to a low-level armed struggle for independence since Indonesian troops invaded on the heels of departing Dutch colonisers in 1963.The province was renamed Papua this year from Irian Jaya under an autonomy law and promised a much greater share of revenue from natural resources.