Religion, ethnicity and conflict : considering mediation as a way for peace building and conflict resolution in Indonesia

Abstract

Mediation is relatively less known by the Indonesian people. As a potential country with wide conflicts, mediation can be an alternative in conflict resolution. In the history of Indonesia, the founding fathers had known the potency of conflict, especially religion and ethnicity based conflict, so they built a concept of unity in diversity. But lately those conflicts often occur. Indonesian society grew up into a society that does not respect differences in various spheres: social, politic, religion and ideology. Most of those conflicts are largely finished in the courthouse. Mediation that is expected as a way to give win - win solution is less appreciated. There are many obstacles for implementing mediation. This paper tries to examine the role of mediation in conflict resolution in the contemporary Indonesian society.