Acts of vandalism

When will a leader from the current government (President Abdurrahman Wahid and Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri, for instance) be courageous enough and have integrity enough to put a definite stop to the increasingly antisocial and criminal acts generated by the group that claims to be a defender of Islam?

The willful destruction of property by this group severely tarnishes everything good and honorable that the Muslim religion stands for, and serves to even more disgrace the image of Indonesia in the eyes of the world.

We Indonesians should be even more ashamed of the fact that the unbridled vandalism and acts of terrorism such as the instances that happened in Depok and several places in Jakarta and elsewhere in Indonesia (Yogyakarta, Ambon) are not at all halted by the police and military and are even allowed to run rampant.

Indonesian leaders who claim to be true and devout Muslims and who would like to defend all the good that The Creator stands for should immediately take stern action against the group, to cleanse the Muslim world from this evil action.

R.A. SOETAMI KOESTOMO

Bogor, West Java