The Bloodshed in North Halmahera: Roots, Escalation, and Reconciliation

Abstract

This paper aims to explain the con?ict on North Maluku Island or North Halmahera in 1999 to be more specifc. When compared with the con?ict in Ambon, the con?ict in North Halmahera is much greater in terms of the number of victims and material losses. There are several factors that in?uenced the con?ict such as politics, economics and religion. It seems that politics and religion were the dominant underlying factors of the con?ict.At that time, the mass media did not report the con?ict e?ectively, so that the resolution of the con?ict came too late and the con?ict escalated and spread to the entire region of North Maluku. The most fundamental thing causing the con?ict was associated with regional growth (pemekaran), namely the emergence of a new sub-district within the existing sub-district of Kao. The new sub-district was created by the Makian, who are migrants from the island of Kie Besi in North Maluku. They pushed the government to establish a new sub-district of Makian Daratan within the sub-district of Kao. The Pagu people,natives to the area, rejected the regional growth. There was a demonstration that ended in a fght between the Pagu and the Makian. Coincidentally, most of the Pagu are Christian and all of theMakian areMuslim. This led to religious issues becoming a factor with certain parties. As a result, this was a horizontal con?ict wrapped with religious issues. In terms of methodology, this paper was written using a qualitative approach that produces descriptive data about the con?icts in North Halmahera. The analysis of the feld data was undertaken using some theories of con?ict. As a conclusion it can be stated that the con?ict in North Halmahera is basically a con?ict of interest that is wrapped with religious issues.