Baileo as a peace model for Christian and Muslim communities in Maluku

Abstract

This article aims at analysing Baileo as a peace model for Christian and Muslim communities from the gandong countries in Maluku. The countries include Hutumuri (Christian), Christian Sirisori, Islamic Sirisori and Tamilou (Islam). Baileo as a peace model was lost during the 1999 social conflict in Maluku.  Baileo (bale) is a place to discuss problems and a place for implementation of customary rituals in the country, whilst gandong is a relationship between two or more countries based on blood or hereditary relations. The approaches used are cultural anthropology and functional theology. This research study uses a qualitative research method with observation and interview techniques for data collection and Appreciative Inquiry (AI) model for data analysis. As shown in the Results and Discussion section, firstly, Baileo is a place to create solidarity between Christian and Muslim communities because of the gandong ties between them, which were very good before the conflict; secondly, the local traditions of Baileo and gandong have become a meeting point for Christian and Muslim communities because Baileo has sacred values, and gandong has mutual care and protection values as an implementation of ancestral promise; thirdly, reviving the fraternal solidarity of Christian and Muslim communities based on collective memory through shared awareness, cultural romanticism and retelling; and fourthly, the implementation of the traditional ritual of the inauguration of Raja Hutumuri in Baileo as a manifestation of peace for Christian and Muslim communities in Maluku because of the absence of mutual suspicion and equality between Christianity and Muslims.

Contribution: The contribution of this study is that local culture, in this case Baileo, is very relevant for solutions or a common ground for resolving socio-religious conflicts at local, national and global levels. Thus, it needs to be developed continuously.