Mon, 29 May 2000

47 injured in Medan chruch blast

MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): With sectarian violence already testing the unity of the country, a blast rocked a Protestant church here on Sunday, injuring at least 47 members of the congregation.

North Sumatra Police chief Brig. Gen. Sutanto said the explosion shook the Indonesian Protestant Church (GKPI) at around 8:30 a.m. during a Sunday service. There were no fatalities.

The officer said the blast at the church was believed to have been a homemade bomb, but he said the police would investigate what type of explosive was used.

A check at local hospitals found at least 47 injured.

Twenty-nine were rushed to private Elizabeth Hospital, five to Herna Hospital and 13 were taken to the police hospital, medical staff said.

"Most of the injuries were caused by flying shrapnel," nurse Halimah at Herna Hospital's emergency unit told The Jakarta Post by phone.

Later in the day Governor Tengku Rizal Nurdin visited the victims at Elizabeth Hospital, shortly after a visit to a nearby islet for a sports commitment.

He told reporters he had been informed the bomb that injured members of the Protestant congregation was of the same type as those used in Maluku and Jakarta violence. "This is certainly designed by provocateurs," he said.

Muslim-Christian clashes have plagued the Maluku islands since January last year, killing over 3,000 people and leaving a wide trail of destruction across the islands.

Fresh sectarian clashes have also hit the Central Sulawesi town of Poso over the past week after first erupting last month. Dozens were reportedly injured in Poso on Sunday as the conflict, which has claimed at least three lives, dragged on. Sayo and Kasiguncu were subdistricts affected the most by Sunday's unrest, Antara reported.

Sutanto said that a second bomb was discovered at the Batak Protestant Church (HKBP) on Jl. Sudirman, Medan, and a short time later a third bomb was found at the Christ the King Church on Jl. M.T. Haryono.

Sutanto said the second bomb was detected by a church warden and later detonated outside by members of the police's bomb squad.

The third bomb, however, went off accidentally when it was about to be detonated at the local police's Mobile Brigade Headquarters, injuring Sgt. J. Fritz.

Following the blast and the discovery of the bombs, a meeting was held between leaders of the North Sumatra military and police, local administrative and religious leaders.

The meeting, Sutanto said, was to prevent further violence.

The police chief warned that the incidents were an attempt to stir up sectarian violence similar to that in the riot-torn province of Maluku and called on the public to exercise restraint.

"I ask the congregation to remain calm, and not fall prey to actions which might only add fuel to the fire. Do not fall prey to provocation following this incident," Sutanto said.

He said the police believed the bomb might have been a homemade device because nails flew in all directions when it exploded.

General-secretary of the North Sumatra chapter of the Communion of Indonesian Churches, A.R. Pardede, and the chairman of the local Council of Indonesia Ulemas, Mahmud Aziz Siregar, also called on the public to refrain from blowing the incident out of proportion.

Medan, a city of some 2.5 million people, has a large Christian population, mostly from the Batak ethnic group. Muslims are mostly from the Malay ethnic group.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Hasyim Muzadi, said the blast was part of an attempt to undermine the government.

"A series of troubles, and now an explosion at a church in Medan, will eventually lead to an attempt to topple the government," Hasyim was quoted by Antara as saying on Sunday.

He labeled the blast as a "systematic and well-coordinated" attempt to stir up trouble.

Hasyim added that Medan had been carefully chosen as the populations of both Muslims and Christians in the city were almost equal in number.

Political observers believe that the ongoing sectarian conflict in Maluku could last a long time because of the fairly equal population of the warring Muslim and Christian communities.

Hasyim therefore called on the public not to be provoked by actions that were "deliberately created to destabilize" the country.

President Abdurrahman Wahid, who chaired the NU for more than 15 years before being elected to the presidency in October last year, has repeatedly claimed there are people attempting to topple his government before the People's Consultative Assembly General Session in August. (39/byg)