Ridwan (known as Ridwan al-Makassary) is a young religious leader of Islam in Papua Province, Indonesia, as well as a lecturer in International Relations of the Universitas Sains dan Teknologi Jayapura, Papua, teaching Negotiation and Conflict Resolution and Introduction to Peace Studies. He works to mainstream moderate Islam and non-violent movements. He earned his first master’s degree in sociology, from the University of Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta and his second master’s in human rights and democratisation from Sydney University and Mahidol University.

Currently he is staff at the Forum for Interreligious Harmony Papua and research director of the Papua Peace and Development Action Institute, a local NGO for peace in Jayapura, Papua. He has authored several books on peacebuilding and politics in Islam such as “Damai Papua Damai Indonesia” (Peace in Papua, Peace in Indonesia) and “Neo-Fundamentalism in Office Mosques in Indonesia”. He attended Peacebuilding and Conflict Reconciliation trainings at American University, USA in 2009 and Muslim Exchange Programmes in Australia in 2014.

Moreover, since 2012 he has worked for Papua Land of Peace in Papua as a facilitator and trainer in interreligious dialogue. Since the first decade of the century, he has been working for peace in Indonesia as Peacebuilding and Human Rights Coordinator at the Center for the Study of Religion and Culture in Jakarta. One of his efforts in peacebuilding in Papua is as a member of the mediator team of “Tolikara Incident 2015” between Muslims and Christians.