"The whole tragedy has become part of a national chess game, " complains Maluku Governor Saleh Latuconsina.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Indonesia: A Wasteland Called Peace

Unfortunately, that kind of indecision may only prolong the search for a lasting solution to Maluku's divisions.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Indonesia: A Wasteland Called Peace

"The military is always on the frontline in the conflicts here, " says Josy Palnaya, a Christian leader in Ambon, Maluku's provincial capital.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Cover: Raging Inferno

Various radical groups, including the Laskar Jihad militia, which helped to encourage fighting in Central Sulawesi and Maluku, claim to have disbanded.

ECONOMIST: A model of tolerance

But there are fears that the sectarian violence that originated in eastern Maluku, which has left thousands dead over the past year, appears to be spreading.

CNN: ASIANOW - Asiaweek | Daily Briefing: Mob Rule

The provincial parliament chiefs of Maluku and Aceh (both retired military officers) have asked that Military Command Regions (known as Kodam in Indonesian) be reinstated in their troubled areas.

CNN: AND THE KILLING GOES ON

Last week Tamrin Amal Tomagola, a sociologist at the University of Indonesia who has been involved in reconciliation efforts in Maluku, handed the armed forces a list of people suspected of stirring up trouble in the province.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Cover: Raging Inferno