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The outbreak of Ambon in 1999-2002 shocked the popularity of harmony amongst inter-ethnic and inter-religious communities in the Ambonese islands and the Moluccas. These battles have a historical root since pre-colonial periods, when the Islamisation of the islands existed and been followed by the Christianisation during the Portuguese and Dutch colonial governments. In the post-Colonial periods, the Islamisation persisted and was contested by the indigenous Christians by the emergence of anti-migrant (and anti-Muslims) issues, especially in the late New Order period and after. One of the contributors of the Islamisation course was Buginess traders and migrants from pre-Colonial to contemporary epoch. In the history of early Muslim kingdoms in the Moluccas, the part of Buginess and Makassarese traders were pivotal as well as Arab and Javanese Muslim traders in the discovery and trading of spicy resources in the islands. After the Islamisation of Halmahera with a popular Muslim kingdoms of Ternate and Tidore, and in 17th century reached the Ambonese islands, where the alliance of Ternate and Leihitu Muslims against the threat of Colonial governments embraced the early idea of Pela (Ind. Hubungan, alliance), which later turned the alliance into Muslim and Christian relations during the colonial periods (Bartels, 1978; Cooley, 1973). Certainly, the Christianisation of the Ambonese islands by the Portuguese and particularly by the Dutch reduced the Islamisation movements, but in some extents, inflated the Muslim solidarity against Colonialist-cum-Christians, with a reminiscence of crusades. Thus, in the independence period, after the tragedy of the Republik Maluku Selatan (RMS) in 1950, Soekarno accommodated the indigenous Christians in the political positions but attempted to welcome Muslims from outer islands, including Buginess, to the Ambonese islands. The New Order continued by generating the policy of transmigration from decent islands in Java and Sulawesi in 1980s, the Islamisation continued with a reason of national unity. Again, Buginess migrants became the second biggest Muslim migrant after Butonese in the islands, particularly as voluntary migrants in response of the growth of Ambon into one of significant trading centres in Eastern Indonesia. The indigenous community (Christians) called them as one of BBM (Butonese, Buginese and Makassarese) as a symbol of Muslims and economic domination and then was utilised by the third parties during the Ambon conflict of 1999 (Kontras, 1999). This paper will argue that the Buginess migrants have a long-term Islamisation role of the Ambonese islands. They contributed in shifting the Islamisation into political and economic competitions amongst Muslim and Christian communities in the contemporary Ambonese history. This paper is mainly based on my fieldworks in the Ambonese islands from July to September 2002.
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Jointly organized by IIAS the Netherlands and The State Institute of Islamic Studies, Makassar