ABSTRACT

Towering above a busy intersection in central Ternate City is an arresting, almost shocking statue. A traditional North Malukan man stands, his machete held aloft, the other arm pointing in accusation to the north. On the statue’s base, dozens of faces scream in agony. If you follow the line of the man’s finger your eyes come to rest on the Sultan of Ternate’s palace. The inscription declares that the statue is a memorial to the ‘Bloody Ramadan Tragedy’. Yet it is not the violence in Tobelo that this statue commemorates, but instead intra-Muslim clashes that engulfed Ternate in December 1999. As the Islamic holy month drew to a close, a conflict began that would have major ramifications for political power in the new province.