Braiding the Peace in Palu

“My uncle is missing in Poso.” Nurlaela Lamasitudju @nurlaelalamasitudju said.

It was the year 2000, the tension between Moslem and Christian in Poso went steep. At least 500 lives were lost in this meaningless fiasco.

Ella was working as an accountant at a car dealer, and was interested in learning about human rights, “I want to track down my missing uncle.”

She worked in the morning and went to Solidaritas Korban Pelanggaran HAM, an NGO for solidarity for victims of human rights violations in Palu, “My parents only knew that I was working at a car dealer. It was better that way.”

In this NGO, Ella met survivors of 30 September 1965 Movement. They were imprisoned just because they joined the organisation, Barisan Tani Indonesia. They did not have the slightest clue on what had been going on in Jakarta, about the power struggle, but yet they paid the price. Eleven years locked up in prison, also forced to work building some public facilities in Palu such as road and office buildings.

“I was so shocked, there were so many victims,” Ella tracks down one by one all the survivors of the 65 incident who were scattered. There were 512 survivors she managed to interview, “All recorded and documented neatly.”

Tracking down was relatively easy. Survivors knew each other because Palu is not a big city. The local tradition, “nosusah” or tackling difficulties together had made it prohibited for anyone to trouble those who have a celebration. Every chore is done collectively, especially cooking. In many occasion, the survivors would see each other, even no words were said. They also often being insinuated as “the involved ones” without them knowing what kind of involvement people were talking about.

In 2006, Ellar held a gathering for victims and survivors of Poso incident, the 65 incident, and other violence cases. It was called Molibu, or the gathering day. Participants from Poso, Toli-toli, Sigi, DOnggal, Palu came. “Some brought rice, cooking oil, fish. They cooked and eat together.” It was the first time all the victims and survivors felt humanized, asked to gather and talked about what they had been through and about their lives. Molibu then became a monthly event to strengthen solidarity.

Ella went on without human rights theory or knowledge on law, “I just did it. I only had my passion. Hehe.” Ella finally received her first training on human rights in 2008. After that training, she then realized how complicated the predicament was and how complex the socio-politic map was. “I did not realize it at the beginning.” She received threats every now and then, but Ella and her friends responded in a very relaxed way, “Just talk to them over coffee.”

The life of survivors of the 65 incident is complex. They were imprisoned without trial. And after they got released, they live in stigma. Any ill incidents within the community would automatically put them as the culprit.

“We are disposable. Scumbags. We want to be treated as a human being.” That was what they told her. Ella said their desire moved her.

Slowly but surely, Ella formed a strategy. One party after another was invited to have a discussion with her. The army, local authorities, communities. Everyone. The dialog often interspersed with theatrical performances, poetry reading, as well as a field trip for the youngsters to the venue where the forced work happened. Then, discussion on human rights flew right in.

In 2012, a historical landmark was created. Rusdi Mastura, the Mayor of Palu for the period of 2005 – 2015 officially opened the dialog with victims and survivors of human rights violations. Unexpectedly, he apologized to the victims and survivors of the 65 incident.

“As the local Governing authority of Palu, I would like to humbly apologise to you, ladies, gentlemen, my brothers and sisters who had been the victims of the 65 incident,” Rusdi expressed spontaneously in a textless speech.

Rusdi admitted that when the incident happened, he was still 15 years old. He was actively involved in Boys Scout, “I joined the raid and helped. We were used by the army.”

Silence fell. The audience tried to digest what had happened, some even in their disbelief. And then the silence broke, all those old eyes broke into tears. “We were so thrilled. We did not expect the universe would answer our prayers in such ways.”

After that historical moment, Ella has not stopped overseeing the advocacy processes for the victims and survivors of human rights violation. Palu, then, was declared as a Human Rights Aware City, also the only success sample of reconciliation for victims and survivors of the 65 incident in Indonesia.

It was all started from Ella’s persistence and her courage to walk out of the car dealer office.

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PUBLISHED BY Puan Indonesia
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