REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, POSO -- Vice President Jusuf M. Kalla paid a visit to Poso District, Central Sulawesi, on Tuesday, to officially kick off some peace promotion activities.
He landed at Kasiguncu Airport in Poso at 10:30 a.m. local time and was greeted by Poso Deputy District Head Samsuri.
Kalla is scheduled to open the Poso Harmony exhibition and theatrical show.
He will also board a helicopter to visit the Harmony State High School in Sulewana village, North Pamona sub-district, Poso District.
Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo will accompany the vice president for the inauguration of the new school.
On the same day, Kalla will proceed to Makassar, South Sulawesi, and will return to Jakarta later in the evening.
Poso District Head Piet Inkiriwang remarked that the organization of Poso Harmony event demonstrates that the city's condition is conducive.
"As Poso is peaceful and reunited, it is glowing. So, two events are being organized: Poso Harmony and Poso Glowing. If there is an assumption that Poso is still not safe, it is wrong," Inkiriwang stated.
Peace has returned to Poso, which was once hit by sectarian conflicts, thanks to Jusuf Kalla's efforts to resolve the conflict when he held the vice presidential post for the first time in 2004-2009, according to Inkiriwang.
"Here, he is an initiator, actor, and executor of peace efforts that have harmonized the community that was once torn apart," he emphasized.
In late 2014, Home Affairs Minister Kumolo stated that the government, with the help of the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI), intends to arrest the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) members, who had entered Poso.
"President Jokowi's instruction is to sweep clean, for which all the TNI forces have been deployed. How come (we have done) nothing against them during the last decade? Starting next month, we are going to the field and crush them," Minister Kumolo had noted in Papua in late December 2014.
He revealed that his Ministry had traced 100 foreign fighters from the Islamic State (IS), who had entered Poso.
"There are 100 foreigners from the IS group currently in Poso. If (they) cannot do jihad in Syria, then (they will launch) jihad in Poso," the minister remarked.
Kumolo, a senior politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), stressed that the military will intensify security measures in the border areas to prevent IS members from entering Indonesia.
"The TNI will crush them. Every force will be deployed, including the National Police," he added.
A massive military exercise against terrorists was held in Poso for two weeks, beginning March 31, 2015.
The prolonged sectarian violence in Poso, which has almost equal the number of Muslim and Christian population, dates back to the late 1990s.
The peak was the so called, "Walisongo Islamic boarding school massacre" on May 28, 2000, when Christian militants attacked the school in Sintuwulemba, killing a number of Muslims, including women and children.
Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika