Religious riots orchestrated to devide<\/p>\n
Religious conflicts are rife these days, the latest being the
\ndestruction of mosques in the East Nusa Tenggara capital of
\nKupang on Monday. Masdar F. Mas'udi, director of the Indonesian
\nSociety for Islamic Boarding Schools and Community Development
\nand a lecturer in Islamic studies at the Driyarkara School of
\nPhilosophy, discusses what is at the core of the problem.<\/p>\n
Question: Do you think the burning and destruction of mosques
\nin Kupang will invite retaliation from Moslems?<\/p>\n
Masdar: The Kupang incident might encourage Moslems in other
\ncities to retaliate unless Moslem leaders manage to pacify their
\ncommunities. Participants of the ongoing congress of the United
\nDevelopment Party (PPP), for example, have reacted feverishly to
\nthe incident.<\/p>\n
Moral and material losses inflicted on the nation as a whole
\nwill be unimaginable if retaliatory actions from both sides
\nescalate.<\/p>\n
The only party that will benefit from such a religious
\nconflict will be those trying to sustain the status quo of their
\npower.<\/p>\n
We hope that Moslems and Christians alike know that religious
\nsentiment is not the determining factor for the rioting and that
\nthey will not try to take revenge against each other. As soon as
\nthey opt for tit-for-tat attacks, religious sentiment will turn
\ninto a determinant factor for further conflicts which sooner or
\nlater would destroy the national integration. All of us would
\nsuffer losses because we built unity with concerted efforts for a
\nlong time.<\/p>\n
Q: Religious leaders often meet after a religious riot but are
\nsuch meetings helpful?<\/p>\n
M: Such a meeting is attended by religious leaders who have
\nunderstood the importance of pluralism. Dialogs will surely help
\nimprove their mutual understanding and their tolerance toward
\neach other.<\/p>\n
But it does not involve medium-level, local community-based
\nleaders and because these leaders, both in Islam and
\nChristianity, generally compete against each other to win
\ninfluence of their local communities, they sometimes become
\nsources of fanaticism and religious sentiments. Involving these
\nleaders in dialog meetings among religion leaders is therefore
\nvery important.<\/p>\n
Q: Were all the recent riots targeting mosques and churches
\ngenerated by religious sentiments?<\/p>\n
M: People devoting themselves to a religion will not be that
\nbrutal. The fact that local religious leaders hastily came to the
\nscenes of rioting to calm down the mobs and to clarify the matter
\nshowed that religious sentiments played a minor role in the
\nincidents. Such rioting would never have occurred if there had
\nbeen no provocation from a third party.<\/p>\n
Q: What were the main causes behind the incidents?<\/p>\n
M: The economic gap between the rich and the poor and the
\nimbalance in access to political decisions on public policies
\nhave played major roles in the disintegration of the nation. Even
\nthough religious sentiment played a minor role, it could help
\nintensify conflicts if used to legitimate particular social
\nactions.<\/p>\n
Q: If you believe that the riots were provoked by a third party,
\nwhich party was it?<\/p>\n
M: I cannot mention by name. But some sources said that the
\nprovocation was from people who had lost their power, assisted by
\nthose trying to sustain the status quo of their power because
\nthey were afraid of losing it. Their strategy is to create a
\nstate of disorder, under which the people will consider that
\ntheir presence is still badly needed to restore and sustain
\nstability.<\/p>\n
Q: Religious leaders have repeatedly asked the government to find
\nthe mastermind of the many riots but it seems so lackadaisical in
\nits effort. Why?<\/p>\n
M: Such requests were very important for the religious leaders to
\nat the very least clarify that the riots had nothing to do with
\nreligion. If they failed to make such a clarification, their
\nreligions would acquire a bad image.<\/p>\n
Results of the investigation have never been announced because
\nvery important persons were apparently involved in the riots and
\nthe authorities were afraid that the mentioning of their names
\nwould create new problems.<\/p>\n
Q: Do you think that the recent conflicts between people of
\ndifferent faiths are in any way related to the practices of the
\nNew Order government?<\/p>\n
M: I think the conflicts stem from the divide-and-rule strategy
\nimposed by former president Soeharto's regime. In his 32-year
\nreign, Soeharto was supported by the military which implemented
\nmanagement measures difficult to be carried out by civil parties.<\/p>\n
Q: Do you expect that social conflicts will escalate as we come
\ncloser to general election day scheduled for June 1999?<\/p>\n
M: If the recent conflicts are not settled properly, the next
\ngeneral election is likely to become a trigger for more dreadful
\nrioting and social disorder.<\/p>\n
Q: What should be done to improve religious tolerance?<\/p>\n
M: Socially, the government must introduce serious measures to
\nnarrow social gaps. Moslems, who constitute the majority of the
\npopulation, are mostly weak politically and economically, while
\nthe minorities are politically and economically strong.<\/p>\n
Leaders of different religions must also increase the
\nfrequency of their dialogs, particularly those among medium-
\nlevel, community-based local leaders. (riz)<\/p>",
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