Attack on churches politically engineered

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)