Graft may threaten peace on Indonesia`s Sulawesi - ICG

Jakarta - Conflict between Christians and Muslims on Indonesia`s Sulawesi island has been contained but graft and the misuse of funding for local communities could create new tensions, according to a report published on Tuesday.

Poso, in Central Sulawesi province, was the scene of religious violence from 1998-2001 in which about 2,000 people were killed.

A peace pact was signed in 2001 but sporadic attacks, mainly blamed on Islamic militants from Jemaah Islamiyah, continued and included bombings and beheadings.

A year after a police crackdown in which about a dozen militants were killed, the violence appears to have ended, International Crisis Group said in its report, while government efforts to encourage reconciliation, rehabilitate militants, and teach a less extreme form of Islam, were proving successful.

But with elections due in 2009, the group`s report "Indonesia: Tackling radicalism in Poso" warned that that there was scope for corruption and mismanagement of funding marked for Poso`s recovery.

"The whiff -- or stench -- of corruption has long hung over Poso, and it undermines public trust in government more generally," said John Virgoe, the group`s Southeast Asia project director, in a statement.

"If corruption can be brought under control and the deradicalisation initiatives take hold, then perhaps the residents of Poso will have reason for hope," he said.

The recovery programmes, initiated by local and central governments, include vocational training for people involved in the conflict, cash grants and the building of new schools.

The central government has earmarked 58 billion rupiah ($6.13 million) in recovery funds for Poso, a fraction of which has been spent on cash grants to former prisoners and fighters.

The government is also building a huge 17-billion rupiah Islamic boarding school that would offer modern and open-minded education, and is expanding a Protestant theological school.

Most of the militants who carried out the attacks on Christians, including bombings and the beheading of three schoolgirls, have been arrested, tried and convicted.

Source: in.reuters.com

Credit Photo: www.tempointeraktif.com

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