'Vengeance' behind killing spree<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): National Police chief Maj. Gen. Roesmanhadi said
\non Monday that revenge was behind East Java's mysterious murder
\nspree in which more than 150 people -- many of them Islamic
\nteachers -- have been killed.<\/p>\n
However, he also said vigilance was needed because communists
\nwould seek to exploit the fear haunting residents of some
\nregencies such as Banyuwangi and Jember.<\/p>\n
\"There are communists who are seeking to reappear or maybe
\ntheir children and grandchildren who have been bearing grudges
\nbecause their forefathers were killed (in the bloodbath following
\nthe 1965 coup attempt blamed on the outlawed Indonesian Communist
\nParty),\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"I know for sure because I am from East Java,\" he added.<\/p>\n
\"The community is being divided because of personal feuds or
\npolitical revenge... such (as when) people believed a Koranic
\nteacher was a black magic practitioner.\"<\/p>\n
He admitted that the police had been slow in their handling of
\nthe murders which began more than two months ago, but it was
\nbecause of \"people's poor understanding that we're short of
\npersonnel.\"<\/p>\n
Banyuwangi, which has a population of 1.5 million, is a vast
\narea and its villages are widely scattered, and each police
\nprecinct only has up to 30 personnel, he said. One officer, for
\ninstance, was in charge of security in six to seven villages,
\ndespite only having limited equipment.<\/p>\n
\"Police were late in detecting the murders because the
\nresidents were late in informing them,\" he said.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, the chairman of the country's largest Moslem
\norganization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Abdurrahman Wahid, said the
\norganization trusted the Armed Forces (ABRI) and the East Java
\nprovincial government to solve the gruesome murders.<\/p>\n
There are millions of NU members in East Java.<\/p>\n
On Monday, the Association of Nahdlatul Ulama's Children
\n(IPNU), the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI), noted
\nopposition figure Amien Rais, and Aisyah Aminy of the respected
\nNational Commission on Human Rights joined the chorus calling for
\nan immediate probe into the murders.<\/p>\n
In a statement read out by IPNU secretary-general Abdullah
\nAzwar Anas at a media conference here, the youth organization
\nurged the local military command and administration to solve the
\ncases \"quickly, justly and in accordance with the law.\"<\/p>\n
\"Otherwise, the government's public image will decline again,\"
\nthe statement said.<\/p>\n
Separately, in a statement signed by its chairman Sularso
\nSopater and secretary-general J.M. Pattiasina, PGI extended its
\ncondolences to the Moslem community in Banyuwangi who had fallen
\nvictim to the violence.<\/p>\n
\"We urge the government to probe this tragedy thoroughly and
\nsolve it in accordance with the law. We have noted that the
\nmethods and results of the (government's) handling of several
\nriots and violence that resulted in casualties, was not thorough
\nand failed to serve the people's demand for justice,\" it said.<\/p>\n
Aisyah Aminy said the rights commission has dispatched a team
\nto Banyuwangi, but its findings were not conclusive on the
\nquestion of whether there were political motives for the crimes.<\/p>\n
In the West Kalimantan capital of Pontianak, the chairman of
\nthe National Mandate Party (PAN) Amien Rais supported
\nAbdurrahman's statement that the Armed Forces must resolve the
\nkillings.<\/p>\n
He also called for the perpetrators to be put on public trial.<\/p>\n
\"Open trials must be staged, because covered up, things will
\nonly be more disorderly and messy,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Residents in the East Java regency of Jember beat to death two
\nmen in the early hours of Monday in Balung Lor village, Balung
\ndistrict, the Surabaya Post paper said.<\/p>\n
Quoting a police source, the daily said members of residents'
\nnight patrols ganged up on the two men -- identified as Kholik
\nand Sodikin from Jombang regency -- they suspected of being
\nkillers who had recently been terrorizing local people. The two
\nJombang men were reportedly wearing ninja-like black clothing and
\nmasks when the residents came upon them.<\/p>\n
Banyuwangi is 105 kilometers east of Jember, which is 198
\nkilometers east of Surabaya.<\/p>\n
The killings in Banyuwangi initially targeted people suspected
\nof dabbling in witchcraft, but later spread to Koranic teachers
\nand Moslem leaders known locally as kyai.<\/p>\n
In many traditional Moslem boarding schools in Jember,
\nsecurity has visibly been beefed up as more and more kyai have
\nreceived telephone threats that they would be killed.<\/p>\n
A kyai in Jember, Muzamil Ahsba, said he and several other
\nMoslem leaders had been receiving such phone threats.
\n(nur\/aan\/emf)<\/p>",
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