Tag: Australia

Prolific writer and young Muslim scholar Yanuardi Syukur experienced first-hand the devastation caused by a sectarian conflict pitting Muslims against Christians in the Maluku islands at the turn of the century. He was 17 when the deadly fighting spread to his hometown of Tobelo in North Maluku from the island of Ambon, the capital of Maluku province, in 1999. “What I learned from that experience is that we as citizens must not fall for rumours intended to create divisions,” he said. “We should trust each other and communicate with each other in this multicultural country.” Today, 35-year-old Yanuardi is a lecturer at the state-run Khairun University in North Maluku province, while pursuing a doctorate degree in anthropology at the University of Indonesia in Depok. While not poring ove...