LOCAL LEADERSHIP IN MINAHASA DURING THE PROCESS OF DECENTRALIZATION

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Preserving the peace in post-New Order Minahasa

Publication . Henley, David; Schouten, Maria Johanna Christina; Ulaen, Alex J.

In the wake of the fall of the authoritarian regime of Suharto in 1998, Indonesia went through rapid processes of democratization and decentralization. However, this was also a period of conflict and violence, in particular motivated by religious and ethnic diversity. Minahasa, the area focused in this article, is surrounded by regions where conflicts between Christians and Muslims were particularly violent around the year 2000. Minahasa itself is also characterized by religious heterogeneity, but the co-existence between the religious groups, however tense, did not explode into bloodshed. In this chapter several characteristics of Minahasa are pointed out that may have contributed to the preservation of relative calm in this region, including the favourable economic conditions and the existence of a robust civil society, manifest, for example, in the appeasing role and mutual cooperation of the regional religious leaders.

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