Peace negotiations are, for the most part, focused on the political and economic dimensions. What is your perception of the necessity of touching deeper and more genuine aspects of reconciliation and how can this be achieved?
Reconciliation shall never be realized nor be everlasting without any local fondation. Without (involving) people who will continue their life in the society in which we would like to reach eternal peace, we will not be able to identify which doctrins regarding reconciliation that extend contribution to peace. The most important aspect in grass root reconciliation is which indigenous, done by and within local society.
What are the conditions in which, beyond securing the interests of parties to conflict, a process that is centered on a sense of fairness and dignity can be established?
The ability to make dialogue to society, looking through the reality either the obvious or invisible one, being patient to confront the obstacles are essential things. We realize that available knowledge treasure has limited capacity to comprehend the social dynamics (memory, trauma, traumatic) that can not be seen only from one dimension due to complications in the inside of it.
To what degree is forgiveness an essential dimension of reconciliation? At the root of your political culture and religious faith, what are the principles that either imply or exclude forgiveness? Which verses or sayings that are part of your personal spiritual heritage could in your opinion have a universal significance?
In our tradition, apologizing is considered to have higher value as the manifestation of humility, dan reconciliation in local level is more often manifestated in struggling for felling guilty, then trying to find the truth. In Al Qur’an many mentioned about command to apologize, one of them is "Istigfar", in Arabic Astagfirullahaladzim (forgive me). This is a way to confess individually and social about is made mistake.
Does forgiveness require some form of repentance on the side of those to whom forgiveness is offered? Does forgiveness have conditions or is it unconditional?
Conflicts in the past, particularly that has structural characterictics, left deep social scars, either to victims, doers, or groups identified as ‘by stander’ – people that did not (feel themselves) to get involved in the conflicts. All three social communities above have social memory of their own made up by experiences, knowledge, class and gender. In cultural reconciliation, those three ‘memory block’ are important to be dismantled, and each of them is called to a cultural meeting. “Truth” than needs not to be fought for each other, because naturally each of them shall struggle to be against of forgeting it. To remember and to forget become ‘critical’ thing, because people and society should look back into (un)conciousness threshold. The process of cultural reconciliation, thereby it is not merely inviting some parties to attend a meeting and sign for ‘peace pact’, but a process of making agreement to ownself, propose for peace to ownself, being peaceful to the old times, and see the future without any kinds of individual and collective trauma.
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