International Journal of Business and Social Science Vol. 4 No. 3; March 2013 303 The Dynamics of Muslim and Christian Relations in Ambon, Eastern Indonesia Badrus Sholeh Lecturer Department of International Relations Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta, Indonesia. Abstract This article will discuss the relationship of Muslim and Christians in Ambon from the period of Dutch colonial government to post Indonesian New Order. I argue the long tension between two religious communities in history strengthen the clash among them from about 1999 to 2002, when thousands Muslims and Christians killed. The centralization of New Order regime and the segregation of religious and ethnic communities challenged the future of harmony in the region. Introduction This article will examine the contact between Muslims and Christians in the Ambonese islands from the pre- colonial period to the revolutionary period of the late 1940s (just prior to national independence). Tracing this history will give us an understanding of the dynamics of Muslim and Christian relations under different regimes. This article will analyse the transmigration program under the New Order, which changed the composition of the population in the Ambonese islands from a position of Christian dominance in the 1970s to one of Muslim domination in the 1990s. This change had a significant impact on local politics as Muslims gained access to more key roles. This chapter will also examine the origins of the Pela tradition and ethnic relationships based on the Pela tradition, noting the changes in this culture over time. It will argue that such cultural changes have impacted religious harmony in the region. Finally, this chapter will discuss the policies of the New Order regime and their influence on local politics. Generally, this chapter will argue that the long-term segregation of the Muslim and Christian communities shaped the tensions and competition between them. State violence and a culture of premanism during the New Order period caused frustrations amongst ordinary people. With the end of the authoritarian New Order regime and a new climate of freedom of expression, there was a growth in radicalism and illegal movements in the name of religion. Early Contact between Muslims and Christians in the Ambonese Islands By the middle of the fifteenth century, Islam had taken root in the Moluccas through the influence of Muslim traders. The first Islamised regions were Leihitu and Hatuhaha in the kingdoms of Temate and Tidore, where the local people had both economic and political reasons to cooperate (Leirissa, 1975, p. 7). The Muslim kingdoms of Temate and Tidore then Islamised the Ambonese islands from the end of the fifteenth to the middle of the seventeenth century. Islamisation continued more gradually after the coming of the Portuguese and Dutch (Cooley, 1973, p. 120). Cooley (1973) has noted that the coming of Islam resulted in changes in the local culture. In the indigenous marriage system, the required dowry was a human head as a symbol of individual prowess. This was later altered to rings, jewelry and other allowed items under the Islamic law system (Cooley, 1973, p. 121). Islamisation was to be challenged by the Christianisation of Ambonese communities by the Portuguese during the more than ninety years, from 1512 to 1605. The Portuguese brought Catholicism first to the Northern Moluccas, but encountered a significant challenge from Muslims. They subsequently succeeded in converting elites to Christianity in the Central Moluccas, where there was less resistance. These elites, especially in the central part of the Moluccas on the Ambonese and Lease islands, had not been fully Islamised. When the Portuguese first arrived in the Moluccas, the Muslim Kings welcomed them and the trade they brought in cloves and other agricultural commodities.