Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies

Series Editor: Oliver P. Richmond, Professor, School of International Relations,University of St. Andrews, UK

Editorial Board: Roland Bleiker, University of Queensland, Australia; Henry F. Carey, Georgia State University, USA; Costas Constantinou, University of Keele,UK; A. J. R. Groom, University of Kent, UK; Vivienne Jabri, King’s CollegeLondon, UK; Edward Newman, University of Birmingham, UK; Sorpong Peou,Sophia University, Japan; Caroline Kennedy-Pipe, University of Sheffield, UK;Professor Michael Pugh, University of Bradford, UK; Chandra Sriram, University of East London, UK; Ian Taylor, University of St. Andrews, UK; Alison Watson,University of St. Andrews, UK; R. B. J. Walker, University of Victoria, Canada; Andrew Williams, University of St. Andrews, UK.

Titles include:

Sofia Sebastián AparicioPOST-WAR STATEBUILDING AND CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM IN DIVIDED SOCIETIESBeyond Dayton in Bosnia

Roland BleikerAESTHETICS AND WORLD POLITICS

Thushara DibleyPARTNERSHIPS, POWER AND PEACEBUILDINGNGOs as Agents of Peace in Aceh and Timor-Leste

Claire DuncansonFORCES FOR GOOD?Military Masculinities and Peacebuilding in Afghanistan and Iraq

Kirsten FisherTRANSITIONAL JUSTICE FOR CHILD SOLDIERSAccountability and Social Reconstruction in Post-Conflict Contexts

Daria IsachenkoTHE MAKING OF INFORMAL STATESStatebuilding in Northern Cyprus and Transdniestria

Stefanie KapplerLOCAL AGENCY AND PEACEBUILDINGEU and International Engagement in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus and South Africa

Roger Mac GintyINTERNATIONAL PEACEBUILDING AND LOCAL RESISTANCEHybrid Forms of Peace

Sara McDowell and Maire BraniffCOMMEMORATION AS CONFLICTSpace, Memory and Identity in Peace Processes

SM Farid MirbagheriWAR AND PEACE IN ISLAMA Critique of Islamic/ist Political Discourses

Audra L. MitchellLOST IN TRANSFORMATIONViolent Peace and Peaceful Conflict in Northern Ireland

Frank MöllerVISUAL PEACEImages, Spectatorship and the Politics of Violence

Chavanne L. PeercyLOCAL LEADERSHIP IN DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION

Michael PughLIBERAL INTERNATIONALISMThe Interwar Movement for Peace in Britain

Oliver P. Richmond and Audra Mitchell (editors)HYBRID FORMS OF PEACEFrom Everyday Agency to Post-Liberalism

Amaia Sánchez-CacicedoBUILDING STATES, BUILDING PEACEGlobal and Regional Involvement in Sri Lanka and Myanmar

Emil SouleimanovUNDERSTANDING ETHNOPOLITICAL CONFLICTKarabakh, South Ossetia and Abkhazia Wars Reconsidered

Lynn M. TesserETHNIC CLEANSING AND THE EUROPEAN UNIONAn Interdisciplinary Approach to Security, Memory, and Ethnography

Mandy Turner and Omar Shweiki (editors)DECOLONISING PALESTINIAN POLITICAL ECONOMYDe-development and Beyond

Rethinking Peace and Conflict StudiesSeries Standing Order ISBN 978–1–4039–9575–9 (hardback) & 978–1–4039–9576–6 (paperback)

You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a stand-ing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at theaddress below with your name and address, the title of the series and one of the ISBNs quoted above.

Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills,Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England

The Cultural Dimension of PeaceDecentralization and Reconciliation in Indonesia

Birgit Bräuchler

© Birgit Bräuchler 2015

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission.

No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.

Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN

Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.

Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world.

Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.

This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bräuchler, Birgit. The cultural dimension of peace: decentralization and reconciliation in Indonesia / Birgit Bräuchler (Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany). pages cm. – (Rethinking peace and conflict studies) Summary: “The Cultural Dimension of Peace outlines an emerging cultural turn in Peace Studies. Taking an anthropological view of decentralization and peace processes in Indonesia as its central focus, it provides an informed understanding of the cultural dimension of reconciliation that is essential for the reintegration of societies that have undergone mass violence and long-lasting conflict. Bräuchler’s study warns of one-sided instrumentalization or harmonization theories, and promotes a critical stance towards the use of ‘culture’, ‘tradition’ and ‘the local’ in peacebuilding. Her focus is on intra-state violence between groups defined by ethnicity, religion or other sub-national (or transnational) collective identities. Based on multi-sited and multi-temporal ethnographic fieldwork, this book develops an approach that opens up spaces and sets a new standard for Peace and Conflict Studies and the anthropology of peace”— Provided by publisher. 1. Maluku (Indonesia)—Politics and government. 2. Maluku (Indonesia)—Ethnic

relations. 3. Maluku (Indonesia)—Religion. 4. Peace-building—Social aspects—Indonesia—Maluku. 5. Reconciliation—Social aspects—Indonesia—Maluku. 6. Religion—Social aspects—Indonesia—Maluku. 7. Social conflict—Indonesia—

Maluku. 8. Conflict management—Indonesia—Maluku. 9. Decentralization in

government—Social aspects—Indonesia. 10. Indonesia—Politics and government— 1998– I. Title. DS646.67.B725 2015 959.8’5204—dc23 2015013975

ISBN 978-1-349-57475-9 ISBN 978-1-137-50435-7 (eBook)DOI 10.1057/9781137504357

To Tari-Tamea and Alex

To all ‘family’ and friends in Maluku

Contents

List of Maps viii

Acknowledgments ix

List of Abbreviations x

Glossary xiii

A Brief Introduction xvii

1 The Emerging Cultural Turn in Peace Research 1

2 Decentralization, Revitalization, and Reconciliation in Indonesia 39

3 Conflict and Peacebuilding in Maluku 69

4 Reconciliation and the Revival of Tradition 101

5 The Reinvention of Traditional Leadership 121

6 Indigenous People, Migrants, and Refugees: A Clash of Individual and Cultural Human Rights 147

7 Concluding Reflections: Toward a New Anthropology of Peace 179

Notes 209

Bibliography 217

Index 247

viii

List of Maps

2.1 Moluccan Islands (North Maluku and Maluku Provinces) 60

3.1 West Seram, Ambon, and Lease (Haruku, Saparua, Nusalaut) 95

ix

Acknowledgments

This book and the research it is based on would not have been possi-ble without the help and the support of many people and institutions,including the Asia Research Institute in Singapore, the KITLV in Leiden,Pattimura University Ambon, the German Research Foundation (DFG), the ANU School of Culture, History and Language, the Fritz ThyssenFoundation, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and theDepartment of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Goethe-University Frankfurt. I am most thankful for the helpful comments on earlier ver-sions of this book’s chapters and related articles and papers by, amongothers, Franz and Keebet von Benda-Beckmann, Gordon Woodman,Karl-Heinz Kohl, Maribeth Erb, Kathryn Robinson, Jim Fox, Gerry van Klinken, Henk Schulte Nordholt, Sabine Mannitz, Ute Roeschenthaler,Susanne Rodemeier, Susanne Schröter, Verena Keck, and Hans PeterHahn. I apologize for not being able to list all colleagues, family, andfriends in Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore, Indonesia (Maluku), and Australia to whom I am deeply indebted for their support. I ammost thankful to those colleagues and friends who have accompaniedme over many years now and made my time in Maluku such a success-ful and enjoyable one: Kees, Yanes, Sam, Lusi, Janes, Merry, John L., John P., Jacky and Louisa, Eda, Ina, Rudi, Om Boy, Abidin, and Tonyin Ambon and surroundings, as well as ‘family’ and friends in Kariu, Pelauw, Hulaliu, Honitetu, Kailolo, Sirisori and Ullath, among them Pak Uju and Ibu Tine, Pak Agus and Ibu Nel, Pak Adrian, Pak Ajim andIbu Mia, Pak Butje, Pak Elep, Pak Tony and Ibu Tina, Merry, Pak John, Pak Munir, Andy, and their families. I would like to thank the won-derful team of Baileo/Humanum, one of the few lasting and successful NGOs in Maluku, the Interfaith Council (headed by Jacky Manuputtyand Abidin Wakano), the Moluccan Refugee Coalition (headed by Pieter Pattiwaellapia), and YPPM (headed by Abdulgani Fabanyo). My thanks also go to the founders and members of the BakuBae peace movement,the newly established raja forum, and the many member raja I havebeen in touch with over the years. I thank all those individuals and organizations involved in the Moluccan peace process for sharing withme their experiences and visions.

x

List of Abbreviations

AMAN Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Indonesian Archipelago)

BBM Buginese, Butonese, and Makassarese (migrants from South Sulawesi in Maluku)

BBR Bahan Bangunan Rumah (government funds to rebuilddestroyed houses)

BKM-Sultra Badan Keturunan Masyarakat Sulawesi Tenggara(Committee of the Descendants of Southeast SulawesiSociety), a Butonese organization in Maluku

BSN Badan Saniri Negeri or saniri (traditional village council, Maluku)

CRP Community Reconciliation Process (East Timor)EWSC Early Warning System for Conflict (Sistem Peringatan

Dini Konflik)FKAWJ Forum Komunikasi Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah

(Communication Forum of the Followers of the Sunnah and the Community of the Prophet)

FKM Front Kedaulatan Maluku (Moluccan Sovereignty Front)GAM Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (Free Aceh Movement)GPP Gerakan Perempuan Peduli (Movement of Concerned

Women, Ambon)IAIN Institut Agama Islam Negeri (Islamic State Institute,

Indonesia)ICG International Crisis GroupICIP International Center for Islam and Pluralism (Jakarta)IDP Internally Displaced PersonILO International Labour OrganizationITDM Institut Tifa Damai Maluku (Moluccan Peace Drum

Institute, Ambon)ITP Institut Titian Perdamaian (Peace Building Institute,

Jakarta)JICA Japan International Cooperation AgencyJRS Jesuit Refugee Service

List of Abbreviations xi

KITLV Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde(Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian andCaribbean Studies, Leiden)

KKBSW Kerukunan Keluarga Besar Sangia Wambulu (Unity of the Big Sangia Wambulu Family), a Butonese organization in Maluku

KKST Kerukunan Keluarga Sulawesi Tenggara (Unity of theSoutheast Sulawesi Family), a Butonese organization inMaluku

KPM Koalisi Pengungsi Maluku (Moluccan Refugee Coalition,Ambon)

LAIM Lembaga Antar Imam Maluku (Maluku Interfaith Council,Ambon)

LBH Lembaga Bantuan Hukum (Legal Aid Institute)LEMM Lembaga Eksistensi Muslim Maluku (Moluccan Muslim

Existence Institute, Ambon)LKDM Lembaga Kebudayaan Daerah Maluku (Culture Institute of

Maluku Region)LMD Lembaga Musyawarah Desa (Village Consultative Council,

1979 Village Law, Indonesia)LSM Lembaga Swadaya Masyarakat (NGO)MCI Mercy Corps InternationalML Majelis Latupati (Council of Traditional Leaders)MLM Majelis Latupati Maluku (Council of Traditional Moluccan

Leaders)MoU Memorandum of UnderstandingMRP Majelis Rakyat Papua (Papuan People’s Council)Mubes Musyawarah Besar (large meeting)MUI Majelis Ulama Indonesia (Indonesian Ulama Council)NGO Non-Governmental OrganizationPDS Penguasa Darurat Sipil (state of civil emergency)Perda Peraturan Daerah (district regulation or provincial

regulation)Perneg Peraturan Negeri (village regulation)PP Peraturan Pemerintah (government regulation)RMS Republik Maluku Selatan (South Moluccan Republic)RT Rukun Tetangga (neighborhood organizations)RW Rukun Warga (residential areas)SARA Suku, Agama, Ras, dan Antargolongan (conflicts based on

ethnicity, religion, race, or class)SBB Seram Bagian Barat (West Seram District, Maluku)

xii List of Abbreviations

SBY Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (Indonesian president from2004 until 2014)

SMS Short Message ServiceSSI Sirisori Islam (Muslim Sirisori Village, Saparua Island,

Maluku)SSK Sirisori Kristen (Christian Sirisori Village, Saparua Island,

Maluku)STAIN Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Negeri (State College for

Islamic Religion, Indonesia)TC Truth CommissionTIRUS Tim Relawan untuk Kemanusiaan (Voluntary Team for

Humanity, Ambon)TNI Tentara Nasional Indonesia (Indonesian National Army)TPIN Tim Penyelidik Independen Nasional (Independent Team

of Investigators, Indonesia)TRC Truth and Reconciliation CommissionUKIM Universitas Kristen Indonesia Maluku (Christian

University of Maluku)UN United NationsUNDP UN Development ProgramUNDRIP UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous PeoplesUNESCO UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural OrganizationUNICEF UN International Children’s Emergency FundUnpatti Universitas Pattimura (Pattimura University, Ambon)UU Undang-Undang (Law)VOC Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie (Dutch East India

Company)YPPM Yayasan Pengembangan dan Pemberdayaan Masyarakat

(Community Development and EmpowermentFoundation, Ambon)

xiii

Glossary

(I for Indonesian, M for Moluccan terms)

adat tradition and customary law (I, originallyArabic)

adat istiadat tradition (I)aman precolonial settlement unit in Central

Maluku (M)amanupui lord of the land (M)asal usul ancestry (I)Badan Permusyawaratan

DesaVillage Deliberative Body (I, 2004)

Badan Saniri Negeri traditional village council, saniri (M)baileo traditional village meeting hall (M)baku bae being on good terms with each other again;

also a peace movement in Maluku (M)batu pemali sacred stone in Moluccan villages (I)beradab civilized, orderly society (I)biadab barbaric, uncivilized (I)budaya culture (I)bupati district head (I)desa village (I)desa administratif administrative village (I)desa geneologis genealogical village, village based on

genealogical and territorial ties (I)dusun village subsection (I)era reformasi reformation era in post-Suharto Indonesia (I)gacaca traditional tribunals (part of Rwandan

community justice)gandong common ancestry, pact based on

genealogical ties (sharing one mother, M)gotong royong principle of mutual help in Indonesia (I)hak ulayat right of avail (customary land rights in

Indonesia)Hatuhaha traditional village union on Haruku Island,

Maluku (M)hena precolonial settlement unit in Central

Maluku (M)

xiv Glossary

hukum law (I)hukum adat adat law (I)tIslam Hatuhaha Hatuhaha Islam, in contrast to Islam Syariat (M)tjati diri identity, self-conception (I)kabupaten district (I)kapitan war leader (I/M)kastom Melanesian equivalent of adatkecamatan subdistrict (I)kelurahan city/town district (I)kepala desa village head (I)kepala soa head of clan/village segment (I/M)keturunan descent/lineage (I)kewang village forest and garden police (M)kota city (I)larvul ngabal tradition and customary law of the Kei

Islands, Southeast Maluku (M)latu local term for leader or raja (M)latupati combination of latu and patih, which are

both titles for traditional leaders in MalukuLembaga Musyawarah

DesaVillage Consultative Council (I, 1979)

lima five (I)lor lim group of five, one part of siwalima

(Kei Islands, Southeast Maluku)malessi war leader or kapitan assistant (M)Malino II Moluccan peace agreement signed in

Malino, South Sulawesi, in February 2002Maluku Moluccas (I)Maluku Tengah Central Maluku (I)Maluku Tenggara Southeast Maluku (I)marinyo messenger (M)masohi system of mutual help in Central Maluku (M)masyarakat community, society (I)masyarakat adat adat community, indigenous people (I)tmasyarakat asli indigenous people (I)masyarakat hukum adat adat law community (I)tmata rumah clan/lineage (I)mato oput Acholi ritual that marks the end of a process

of conflict resolution and reconciliation (Northern Uganda)

mauweng priest of traditional belief system (M)

Glossary xv

mufakat consensus (I)musyawarah deliberation (I)nahe biti literally, ‘rolling out the mat’, symbolizing

consensus and the willingness of the differentparties to a conflict to sit together and find asolution, East Timor (Babo-Soares 2004)

negeri village (M)negeri adat adat village, village as a traditional unit (M)tnegeri administratif administrative village, village as an

administrative unit (M)negeri induk mother village, in case administrative units have

been split off from a negeri adat (M)tNunusaku sacred mountain on Seram Island, Central

Maluku (M)orang kaya Literally, ‘rich person’; traditional village leader,

below patih and raja (I/M)Orde Baru New Order (term for the Suharto regime, as

opposed to the Old Order under the precedingpresident, Sukarno)

otonomi asli original autonomy (I)pata lima group of five, one part of siwalima (Central

Maluku)pata siwa group of nine, one part of siwalima (Central

Maluku)patih traditional village leader, below raja (M)pela traditional village alliance (M)pemekaran ‘blossoming’/development of new governmental

administrative and budgetary units in decentralizing Indonesia (I)

peraturan (daerah) (regional) regulation (I)Perda Negeri district or provincial regulation about the negeri (I)petuanan village territory (M)peusijuek ritual practice held in Aceh to show that

harmony has returned to a community, that the situation has ‘cooled down’ (Avonius 2009)

politik berimbang politics of (religious) balance in post-conflictMaluku (I)

provinsi province (I)pulau island (I)raja traditional village leader (M)rat traditional leader (Kei, Southeast Maluku)

xvi Glossary

rekonsiliasi Anglicism for reconciliation (I)saniri traditional village council (M)sasi traditional mechanism to regulate resource use (M)siwa nine (I)siwalima philosophy, implying that Moluccan society is made

up of two parts, siwa (nine) and lima (five), that areboth needed for a functioning society (M)

soa clan or village segment (M)terra nullius no man’s land (Latin)tifa traditional drum (M); also the name of a

Moluccan peacebuilding institute (Institut Tifa Damai Maluku, ITDM)

tiga batang air three rivers; reference to an area known for theSaniri Tiga Batang Air, a structure meant to govern the regions of the three rivers Eti, Tala, and Sapalewa in West Seram in the past, which is also subject to current revival initiatives (M)

tuan tanah lord of the land (I)uli traditional village federation, uniting several aman/

hena (M)uli lima group of five, one part of siwalima (Central Maluku)uli siwa group of nine, one part of siwalima (Central Maluku)uma lulik ritual clan house (East Timor)undang-undang law (I)upu honorable term of address (M)ur siu group of nine, one part of siwalima (Kei Islands,

Southeast Maluku)walikota mayor (I)yayasan institution, foundation (I)

xvii

A Brief Introduction

Despite a still prevalent focus in conflict and peace studies on the quan-titative search for the causes of war and the ways to prevent the recur-rence of violence,1 there are clear indications for a cultural turn in thisgrowing field of interdisciplinary research. By cultural turn I mean the increasing importance peace studies as well as national and international peace organizations attribute to ‘culture’ and ‘the local’ in peacebuilding and reconciliation processes. Given the frequent failure of an interna-tionally established reconciliation toolkit, ‘local culture’ as a means forpeace became increasingly popular in peace and conflict studies disci-plines, most prominently political sciences, international relations, andlegal studies. However, these disciplines and actors often have obvious difficulties grasping the meaning of ‘culture’ and ‘the local’, which has so far been the domain of social and cultural anthropology. ‘Culture’ has therefore mainly been dealt with in an uninformed and superficial way. The cultural turn thus also implies an appeal to anthropologists to step in and an appeal for interdisciplinary collaboration.

This book outlines the emerging cultural turn in peace studies andprovides an informed understanding of the cultural dimension of rec-onciliation that is essential for the reintegration of societies that haveundergone mass violence and long-lasting conflict. It also promotes a critical stance toward the use of ‘culture’ and ‘tradition’ in peacebuild-ing, including cultural revival, and warns of one-sided instrumentali-zation or harmonization theories. The focus is on intra-state violencebetween groups defined by ethnicity, religion, or other subnational (ortransnational) collective identities. Through an anthropological view of decentralization and peace processes in Indonesia, the book develops anapproach that opens up new spaces and sets a new standard for conflict and peace studies and the anthropology of peace. Based on multi-sited and multi-temporal ethnographic fieldwork in the Moluccas (Maluku inIndonesian), Eastern Indonesia, this study highlights the importance of culture for the restoration of sustainable peace in a society that has beentorn apart by an alleged religious war. The idleness and incapacity of the central government of Indonesia to put an end to the violence and the disastrous effects of the instrumentalization of religion drove people inMaluku to restrengthen, revive, and reconstruct culture and traditionthat goes beyond religion and is meant to become the common ground

xviii A Brief Introduction

for sustainable peace. My long-term ethnographic fieldwork particularlyfocused on the revitalization of traditional institutions and conflict reso-lution mechanisms that were brought to the fore in order to rebuildinterreligious bridges. These processes were legitimized by decentrali-zation policies in Indonesia, post 2001. The study also engages with another trend found in many parts of the world: the strategic revival of local cultures and traditions in order to reclaim resources and politicalleadership; this is linked to the idea that populations can use culturalcapital to put an end to conflict, which is allegedly caused by ‘outside’ factors.

The emerging cultural turn in peace research has been inadequately informed by an anthropological perspective. The study expounds thecontributions from social and cultural anthropology – in particular,through ethnographic fieldwork and core concepts such as ‘culture’ and ‘tradition’ – to the interdisciplinary field of peace studies and exploreswhat implications this has for research and policy-making in post-conflict societies. In addition, it challenges the predominant image in academic writing and the media of Indonesia as a place of conflict byputting a clear focus on the analysis of conflict resolution and reconcili-ation processes. The central argument is that the revival and reconstruc-tion of traditional means for conflict resolution and the recreation of societal order, in short the revival for peace, is one important compo-nent not to be missed in analyzing the variety of contemporary conflictand peace scapes within nation states. It is not to be missed, as it reveals what conflict and peace mean for local societies and as it can anchor rec-onciliation on the ground and make peacebuilding sustainable. As the book’s case studies clearly demonstrate, it is crucial for success that the‘revival for peace’ be based on inclusive and informed negotiation pro-cesses. Only in-depth research on the local community level can grasp such dynamics. However, the book also warns against taking the enthu-siasm for revival as an excuse for governments and others to refrain from solving long-term structural problems and addressing root causesof the conflicts, measures that are, in the long run, important for a stableand lasting peace.

Some notes on methodology and the volume’s structure

This book is not an ethnography in the classical sense. It is not an account of one particular ‘culture’, one particular ‘people’, or one par-ticular ‘ethnic group’ and their respective way of life. It is an ethnog-raphy of the Moluccan peace process that looks at Moluccan society

A Brief Introduction xix

through the analysis of conflict, peace, and the implementation of decentralization, in which ‘culture’ and ‘tradition’ figure most promi-nently. The ethnography of the Moluccan peace scape is, to a certainextent at least, comparable to what Carolyn Nordstrom has coined an‘ethnography of a warzone’ in Mozambique, which is ‘an experimentalmethodology based on studying a process (political violence and crea-tive resistance) rather than a study based in a circumscribed locale’; it isa study ‘grounded in a topic and ac process rather than a place’ (Nordstrom 1997a: 10). Just as Nordstrom emphasizes for the warzone she looks at,shared information on conflict and peace in Maluku links Moluccanpeople who were (and still are) all involved in both conflict and peace, which constitutes their shared past and, to a certain extent, a shared cul-ture. It is an important strategic move in post-conflict Maluku to create a pan-Moluccan identity, which has actually never existed before, to rein-tegrate Moluccan society, and to prevent any future large-scale violence.

To trace the intricacies and the unfolding dynamics of the Moluccanpeace scape, I conducted multi-sited and multi-temporal fieldwork. My ethnographic fieldwork was focused on several areas in Central Maluku, in particular Ambon Island, Seram Island, and the neighboring Lease Islands, but addresses issues of importance for the whole MoluccanProvince; it was conducted during several stays over a decade. With a substantive background knowledge of my previous long-term researchon the Moluccan conflict (see in particular Bräuchler 2013), I spent peri-ods of two to three months in the field in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008,and 2011, amounting to 13 months of fieldwork. My ethnographic case studies explore small-scale peace events at the village and intervil-lage levels as well as peace initiatives meant to integrate the whole of Moluccan society (i.e. the entire province). In this book, these specificpeace events are continuously put in relation to the broader Moluccan peace process (and vice versa) and in the context of a more general dis-course in the field of peace and conflict studies. This way I was able tosearch for common narratives as well as specific experiences that canonly be understood in specific contexts through in-depth studies in spe-cific localities, hence anticipating the criticism that Nordstrom’s studywas facing: the decontextualization of individual stories (Honwana1999: 505) and the conduct of ‘airstrip anthropology’ (Finnström 2005:493). This ethnography is thus a study of peace as a process as well aspeace in a specific locality; it follows peace in space and over time, asSverker Finnström (2005: 494) had suggested for the study of war. The Moluccan peace process is closely linked to the ongoing decentraliza-tion process in Indonesia and comprises a wide variety of actors and

xx A Brief Introduction

all levels of society. Alongside my in-depth case studies in a selected number of villages and the account of innumerable individual experi-ences, I therefore also included discussions held and actions taken by government representatives, local NGO activists, national and interna-tional NGOs, religious and adat spokespersons on a district and provint -cial level, local media, academics, and policy makers in Maluku, many of them in Ambon City, the capital of Maluku Province.

The choice of sites and events studied was as much the result of planned action as of serendipity. I was guided and inspired by peacedynamics and events I participated in or discussions I joined in or had with one of the abovementioned actor groups. Always being conscious of ‘watching a short part of an ongoing flow’ (Moore 1986: 321), I regu-larly tried to combine ‘perspectives that are not normally held at the same time, insider–outsider, local–supra-local, short term–long term,model and event’ (Moore 1986: 329). Place and social space are, inMichel de Certeau’s sense (1984: xiv), not something pre-given, but products of everyday practices and creativity. In the same vein, realities such as the Moluccan peace scape evolve and are defined in practicesthat need to be tracked and analyzed through ethnographic research.In my field research, I was taking a processual approach as suggested by Hastrup and Olwig (1997: 8), ‘where new locations are incorporated into the research, as the researchers become aware of their relevanceto the topic under study’. Given the performative character of many peace events, their multi-locality, multi-temporality, and their crea-tive interconnection, the ‘metaphor of performance’ is also helpful todescribe the Moluccan peace scape as a field for ethnographic research, thus ‘replacing more purely spatial modes of description’ (Coleman &Collins 2006: 12). I did not follow an object, but followed the Moluccanpeace and decentralization process for a decade. I followed certain peaceinitiatives and actors that proved to be more stable, but also developed further and changed in the course of the years; I revisited villages to fol-low developments there over a longer period of time, but I also kept onintegrating new elements, places, and initiatives as they came along and proved to be important for Moluccan peacebuilding and the implemen-tation of decentralization. It was important to follow peace initiativesin different locations in order to carve out not only the particularitiesof each case, but also commonalities and the extent of an emerging Moluccan peace culture. In turn, comparing the implementation of decentralization in different localities was essential in order to bring outthe challenges of democratization in Indonesia. For Alan Barnard (2012:245), multi-temporal field research ‘is not simply a matter of returning

A Brief Introduction xxi

to the same small group of people that brings awareness, but return-ing to a changing political climate’. This is particularly true in Maluku,which underwent massive changes over the last 15 years due to mass violence, ensuing peacebuilding, and the national decentralization anddemocratization process. Only multi-temporal fieldwork enabled me to grasp the nature of such enforced and voluntary changes and evaluate their impacts, something a classical one-time stay in the field would nothave allowed for.

My ethnography of the Moluccan peace scape thus makes a strongcase for a multi-sited – but, even more importantly, also for a multi-temporal – fieldwork approach that implies that ‘the fieldworker follows a process not only over time but from time to time just like George Marcus (1995) suggested a process should be followed from site to site’(Dalsgaard 2013: 214). Multi-temporal fieldwork entails that ‘ethno-graphic sites and their temporalities are thus not given or just there, but emerge from ethnographic practice’ (Dalsgaard 2013: 215). In retro-spect, and here I agree with Dalsgaard (2013: 220), the various stays inthe field over a decade appear as one long process that has not only pro-vided ample space for planned and guided fieldwork, but also serendip-ity, such as the occurrence of invented ‘traditional’ practices and ideals.In addition, as stressed by the authors of the edited volume Returns to the Field: Multitemporal Research and Contemporary Anthropology (Howell & yTalle 2012), multi-temporality provides changing interpretations due tochanging perspectives in one’s discipline or in one’s personal situationin life. Multi-temporality and return visits can intensify interaction andsocial relations in the field. I can easily confirm that a growing familiar-ity with the field and key figures in the field can provide access to infor-mation and local knowledge that had been denied during former visits. Multi-temporal fieldwork thus ‘gives rise to unique cumulative knowl-edge unachievable by any other means’ (Howell 2012: 175). Only thecontinuation of such multi-temporal fieldwork in and on the Moluccanpeace process will allow for the evaluation of its sustainability.

Chapter 1 of the volume outlines what I understand as the emergingcultural turn in peace research and the cultural dimension of reconcili-ation. It also positions my ethnographic case studies and discussionsof the Moluccan peace scape in the broader field of conflict and peace research. As comparative case studies from outside Indonesia I choseexamples that have some similarities with the Moluccan case and thatare extensively discussed in the literature on transitional and tradi-tional justice, such as Rwanda or East Timor. Chapter 2 looks for thecultural turn in peacebuilding in Indonesia and explores processes of

xxii A Brief Introduction

decentralization, democratization, and reconciliation. It also provides background information on decentralization in Maluku. Chapter 3 pro-vides a brief outline of the Moluccan conflict and a substantial over-view of the peace process. It provides the essential context for chapter 4,which focuses on reconciliation and the revival of tradition, and for the embedding of the in-depth ethnographic case studies of chapters 5 and 6.Chapters 4 to 6 explore the cultural dimension of reconciliation and peacebuilding in Maluku. They analyze the revival, (re)emergence, and (re)invention of traditional village federations, adat (tradition and cust -tomary law) institutions, and traditional local elites that are all part of so-called traditional justice mechanisms and play an important but ambiv-alent role in current peacebuilding and decentralization processes in the region and throughout Indonesia. Moreover, they elaborate on the roleof cultural outsiders, refugees, and migrants in those developments andcritically outline the challenges and shortcomings of a revival of tradition for peace. The book thus discusses whether cultural approaches can pro-vide sustainable solutions to mass violence and conflicts that go beyondtheir traditional scope. In addition, the close interconnection of the peace and revival of tradition process in Maluku and the current decentraliza-tion process in Indonesia are analyzed and their prospects and problems discussed. Chapter 7 summarizes and discusses some of the issues raised inchapter 1 in relation to my Moluccan case studies: the localization of the cultural turn in peace studies, the adaptation of traditional justice mecha-nisms to come to terms with mass violence, the relationship between dif-ferent normative orders and the issues of justice and truth. It also outlinesthe way toward a new anthropology of peace and its place in the broader field of peace studies.

Unless stated otherwise, chapters 3 to 6 are based on observations, informal interviews, and conversations I held with people and organi-zations involved in the activities described, ranging from common villagers, adat and religious figures, NGO activists and academics, to tgovernment officials. In most cases I omit personal details and namesto anonymize information. The Moluccan archipelago is commonly divided into the Northern, the Central, and the Southeastern Moluccas. When I mention ‘Central Maluku’ or ‘Central Moluccas’, I refer to thecentral part of the Moluccan archipelago, in particular to the islands where I spent most of my research time: Ambon, the Lease Islands, and Seram. Only if explicitly stated does ‘Central Maluku’ refer to theadministrative district unit that changed borders during the research period and now takes up only part of its former territory. If not indicatedotherwise, quotations of local interlocutors are in Indonesian (Bahasa ((Indonesia) and are translated into English.