Attack on churches politically engineered
SURABAYA (JP): The Oct. 10 attack on churches in the East Java town of Situbondo was "politically engineered" to appear like a conflict between local Moslems and Christians, a discussion here has concluded.
About 200 youths from various religious organizations agreed at Hotel Elmi yesterday that the attack, which claimed five lives, not only inflicted great losses on local Christians but also tarnished Islam as a religion of peace and unity.
"This is why the case should be solved in an honest and open manner," stated the meeting of members of the Indonesian Christian Youths Movement (GAMKI), the Indonesian Catholic Students Association, the Indonesian Nationalist Students Movement, the Ansor youth wing of Indonesia's largest Moslem organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, and other religious organizations.
K.H. Lora Kholil As'ad, the youngest son of the late Nahdlatul Ulama leader K.H. As'ad Syamsul Arifin, also attended. Lora is a respected ulema who was suspected of being behind the incident.
The attack occurred after about 3,000 people were outraged at what they considered a lenient sentence requested for Saleh, a local Moslem standing trial for blasphemy and slandering As'ad. The mob rampaged after unidentified people shouted that Saleh had taken refuge in a local church.
Fonumero Ziralau, the chairman of the GAMKI local chapter, said the Oct. 10 attack was contrived by "certain parties" misusing religious issues.
"This case has damaged religious co-existence in the region. We're all suffering losses because of this third party's misdeeds," he said, but declined to identify the party he accused of engineering the attack.
Choirul Anam of the Ansor youth movement reiterated his conviction that the attackers were people from outside of the predominately-Moslem Situbondo.
"I have never believed the religious people of Situbondo would do such a thing. Those people who set churches on fire while holding and drinking alcohol could not be Situbondo people," he said.
The authorities have detained and interrogated 53 people suspected of being involved in the attack. Sources said dossiers on the suspected attackers have been completed and submitted to the prosecutors' office, and that they will stand trial on Thursday, Nov. 28.
Saleh, the man at the center of the tension, was sentenced earlier this month to five years in prison for blasphemy.
Lora Kholil, who founded and now leads the Wali Songo Mimbaan Pesantren (Islamic boarding school), agreed the attack was a political maneuver devised by people wishing to pit Moslems against Christians.
"We all suffer. The Christians suffer because they lost their places of worship, Moslems suffer because they are now thought of as people who cannot respect other religions," he said.
Lora called on those at the meeting to dig deeper and realize that national unity had yet to take roots among people.
"It (unity) is a mere appearance, it's too formal," he said. "We see it in politics, where people hurt each other for their own interests. Democratization and honesty are nothing but a facade." (25/swe)