The Pela Gandong local wisdom as multicultural education model after the Ambon Conflict

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to describe how Pela Gandong as a model of multicultural education has been implemented between the State Junior High School (SMPN) 9 Ambon City and the State Junior High School (SMPN) 4 Salahutu Liang, Central Maluku Regency. The Ambon conflict became a very valuable lesson for the Indonesian people, especially the Ambonese-Maluku people. That the diversity that has been bestowed must be managed properly and is a reality of life. The Ambon conflict is the largest civil conflict based on ethnicity, religion, race and ethnicity (SARA) after the fall of the Suharto government on May 21, 1998. After the Ambon conflict ended, various parties began to think about how to do peacebuilding so that similar conflicts did not happen again. One of them is implementing multicultural education based on the local wisdom values of Pela Gandong. During the Ambon conflict resolution, Pela Gandong's local wisdom became the medium. The research method used is descriptive qualitative with a case study approach. Data was collected by means of literature study, interviews, observation, and document analysis. The results show that Pela Gandong contains multicultural values that have been built by the ancestors of the Maluku people, and is currently uniting Muslim and Christian students with a local cultural approach. The implementation is done by transforming Pela Gandong values in schools and teacher exchanges. Then jointly held; scouting activities, camping, Christmas, iftar, Sports and Arts Week. Both schools were also part of the 2013 film Provocateur of Peace as a campaign for peace and the spread of multicultural values.