A new upsurge in violence in the Poso region of Central Sulawesi is believed to be not only a conflict between Muslims and Christians but more a struggle between local elites.
Poso erupted in violence the first time in December 1998, only seven months after Suharto's forced resignation. The governor of Central Sulawesi at the time was a Muslim retired army officer, H.B Paliudju from the Da'a Kaili ethnic group originating in the mountains west of provincial capital Palu.
While Suharto was still in power with the support of his political base Golkar, Paliudju was nominated as a governor in 1995 over several other leading Muslim contenders. His candidacy was pushed by two senior Suharto aides, Home Affairs Minister Yogie Memet and House speaker Harmoko.
Harmoko's election as Golkar chairman in 1993 introduced a greater role and influence for then Research and Technology Minister and Suharto confidante B.J. Habibie.
As a Suharto political crony, the negative attitude of Paliudju towards Megawati Sukarnoputri, the embattled leader of the "Struggle" Democratic Party (PDI-P), was shown by backing for her predecessor, Suryadi. Thus in the eyes of Megawati, the days of Paliudju were numbered.
In Febuary 2001, Aminuddin Ponulele of the coastal Kaili family, replaced Paliudju as Central Sulawesi governor. With the support of Golkar, Ponulele won 21 of 45 seats in the regional parliament (DPRD).
While PDI-P did not have the numbers to win outright, Ponulele was seen as more acceptable than Paliudju, who was labeled as a traitor of Megawati. Support for Ponulele from PDI-P functionary Maj. Gen.(retired) Theo Syafei was also important (see Detak Tabloid, November 27,2000).
In the 1999 general election, Golkar still managed to gain 55% of votes in Central Sulawesi, compared to only 26% nationwide. In Poso, Golkar took between 37-85% of votes.
When the Poso violence broke out for the first time, the incumbent Poso regent was a Golkar-backed Muslim, Arief Patanga, whose ethnicity was identified as Tojo, a precolonial Bugis-influenced group. Tojo was a former Muslim kingdom and remains a district centered east of Poso and West Ampana.
As the town of Poso grew during the Suharto regime, it became increasingly diverse ethnically. Protestants consisted of Pamona, Minahasans, Chinese, Mori, Napu, Besoa, and Bada'.
Muslims included Arabs, Javanese, Bugis, Makasar, Mandar, Buton, Kaili people as well as Tojo, Togian (Togean), and Bungku people from the regency itself.
The small Catholic minority was comprised of Minahasans, Chinese, as well as migrants from former Portuguese colonies such as Flores. Balinese were the only Hindus.
By the late 1990s, the Muslim percentage of the Poso city population exceeded 50% and Muslim Bugis gained control of much urban commerce.
Analysts believe the the communal conflict is related to the political connection between Bugis-affiliated Muslims and Golkar elites at the national level.
This was demonstrated when Arief Patanga's term as regent expired in June 1999. A Pamona Protestant candidate, Yahya Patiro, run for the position with the support of many Protestants in the district.
Patiro had been second in command to Patanga as regional secretary (sekretaris wilayah daerah, sekwilda), in what was a workable balancing act between the contesting groups and also a reflection of the ethnic rivalries.
Patiro's main competitor was a United Development Party (PPP) Muslim candidate named Damsyik Ladjalani, whose family was from the Togian Islands, just north of Poso.
The Togian islands are a midpoint linking Bugis-dominated trade between Gorontalo to the north of Sulawesi and Ampana in the south of Sulawesi. Gorontalo is now a separate province, headed by Golkar-backed Muslim businessman Fadel Muhammad.
In the end, neither Protestant candidate Yahya Patiro nor PPP-based candidate Damsyik Ladjalani were successful. Instead, Golkar-backed Muslim candidate Abdul Muin Pusadan was elected as the new Poso Regent in the June 1999 general election.
Pusadan was not direcltly linked to the Bugis-affiliated Muslims, as he originated from the distant Bungku area, located about two hundred kilometers southeast of Poso.
However, given his support from Muslim-affiliated Bugis within Golkar, Pusadan who was considered as an underdog, was left with a moral debt to Golkar.
This event of course disappointed not only the Pamona and other Protestants who supported Patiro, but also the Muslim supporters of Ladjalani from PPP.
The Bugis-affiliated Golkar managed to play off PPP-backed Muslim Ladjalani and Prostentant Patiro against each other.
Looking at Golkar at the national level, the Bugis connection in Golkar was closely related to then President Habibie. Marwah Daud Ibrahim, Laode Kamaluddin, Yasril Ananta Baharuddin and A.A. Baramuli were dominant forces at the time within Golkar and seen as committed more to their Bugis connections than their Islamic background.
It was this background, analysts say, that provoked the first communal violence between Muslim and Christians in Poso.
Though the violence in the city of Poso began with a quarrel between two drunken youths, one Muslim and one Protestant, on December 24, 1998, subsequent events need to be noted.
When a youth from the Protestant Lombogia neighborhood slashed the hand of a youth from the Muslim Kayamanya neighborhood, the communal reaction that followed reflected the elite conflict between Bugis-affiliated Muslims and Pamona Protestants.
The residents of Kayamanya who were provoked by the incident were generally of Bugis descent, with many originating from Watu, a South Sulawesi village in the Gulf of Bone, whose dialect shows similiraties with Bugis, Pamona, Buton, and Kaili languages (see Lorraine Arago. V Aragon, Communal Violence in Poso, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia Magazine, October 2001).
Many Kayamanya residents were also affiliated with the Al-Khaira'at organization, an Islamic school system founded in the early twentieth century by a member of the Al-Jufry clan who migrated from the Middle East.
Though the organization is based in Palu, it now has 1,200 branches in eight provinces of eastern Indonesia.
By contrast, most residents of Lombogia, located across the Poso River from Kayamanya, were of Pamona, Mori, and Minahasa descent. They included many civil servants, retired military, and other middle class Protestants.
When Golkar-backed Muslim candidate Abdul Muin Pusadan was elected and installed as Poso regent, frustrated Protestant candidate Yahya Patiro and PPP-backed candidate Damsyik Ladjalani did not address their dissatisfaction and disappointment to Golkar, but on the contrary blamed and attacked each other.
Patiro, with the support of the Protestant Pamona militia organization Gerakan Pemuda Sulawesi Tengah (Central Sulawesi Youth Forces, GKST), blamed Muslim politicians in the regional council for eliminating him from the nomination.
The Muslim political faction who supported the nomination of Ladjalani blamed the Protestant Pamona faction that was provoked by the angry Patiro and his Pamona militia, GKST. This group, according to some sources, is a resurrected version of the Protestant militia organization from Protestant-Pamona, dating back to the rebellious Permesta in 1958-1959.
In subsequent events, both Muslim and Christian communities got involved in the armed conflict. The Muslim community relied for its forces on the Central Sulawesi Student Militia (Laskar Mahasiswa Sulawesi), consisting of Muhamadiyah and Al-Khaira'at pupils.
As communal violence intensified, the organized Muslim force Laskar Jihad joined in, aggravating the social tension in Poso.
Meanwhile Christian attack squads became known as the red bats (kelelawar merah), black rats (kelelawar hitam) and mask (topeng). The involvement of a Catholic group from Flores led by Dominggus da Silva Soares, Don Martinus Riwu and Tibor remains mysterious up to this date.
According to witnesses at their trial, Tibo had prepared 700 militia with funds from retired army officers and other outsiders (Poso Rioters Got Supply of Guns, Jakarta Post, January 30, 2001).
Tibo and his allies began their action on May 28, 2000, attacking and surrounding Sintuwu Lemba village, killing and torturing Javanese migrants, including women and children.
It was the involvement of the Catholic Flores group that justified the involvement of the Laskar Jihad, who said they were forced to attack because of the failure of the government to react properly to the slaughter of some hundreds of Muslim in Poso.
It comes as little surprise that Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla should feel frustrated by the renewed violence in Poso.
Kalla appears to want to generate speculation that the security forces are behind the problems. "The Police's inability to arrest any attackers has prompted the unrest to continue across the town," he said.
Given his own close connection with the Bugis-affiliated Muslims of the Habibie era, it is hoped that Kalla's blame for the security apparatus is not just an attempt to seek a scapegoat.