Designing Public Space to Promote Understanding on Diversity in Religious Conflict Prone Areas in Ambon and Poso

Abstract

Diversity is actually a distinguishing characteristic of Indonesian society and one of the factors making such diversity is religion. However, religion along with any religious matter are frequently to be a sensitive issue. By the name of 'truth' the religion doctrine is often used as justification for destroying, burning, attacking and even killing others having different faith. Ambon are frequently used to be examples and topics of discourses on horizontal conflicts based on religious issues.Many know that the conflicts were actually more economic and even political but they were wrapped by religious issues for such issues were very sensitive and even irrational. It will always be easily manipulated to recruit, aggregate, and move people (conflicting actors). This paper will discuss the needs of peace education in Ambon and Poso that really requires a vigorous role of students and young people to build confidence, diminish mutual mistrust, open dialogue in order to develop communication and intensive cooperation between interfaith groups and ethnicities. To embody the ideas mentioned above, it is necessary to build a public space that will be a meeting forum for communication. This public space will be plural, meaning a place where different people are possibly to interact to each other.