Balinese break silence over Iraq
Balinese break silence over Iraq
The Jakarta Post, Denpasar/Jakarta
The Balinese Hindu community joined the antiwar campaign on
Monday as they prepared for the Day of Silence, with dozens of
students taking to the streets to protest the United States-led
attack on Iraq.
"We are staging the protest today because in just two days the
Hindu followers will celebrate Nyepi, the Day of Silence, and
hopefully, the spirit of ahimsa, the highly-revered principle of
non-violence, could inspire people to stop the war," rally
coordinator Kayun Semara told reporters.
The holiday, which also marks the Hindu New Year, will fall on
Wednesday.
The rally was organized by the Association of Hindu Dharma
Students (KMHDI), one of the most active religious movements on
the island.
Dressed in traditional Balinese attire, the students
articulated their antiwar protest at the Bali Police Headquarters
early in the morning before moving to Ngurah Rai Airport.
The students greeted newly arrived foreigners with flowers and
a written statement of their antiwar stance. They also unfurled
two banners which read: "Stop war, Stop Violence, Stop
Intimidation, Make the World a Better Place".
Besides condemning the attack on Iraq for sacrificing the
lives of innocent people and demanding that the global community
stop all acts of violence, the protesters reminded people that
the nature of the war in Iraq was a humanitarian issue, not a
religious issue.
Meanwhile, National Police deputy spokesman Sr. Comr. Zainuri
Lubis called on the public to suspend the antiwar rallies on
Wednesday in observance of the Hindu holiday.
"We do not recommend that people hold a rally on that day in a
bid to respect the Hindu community who will observe the holiday,"
said Zainuri.
The call, Zainuri said, was in line with the government
regulation in lieu of law No. 2/1998 on freedom of expression,
which stipulates that people are not allowed to hold a rally at
night or on national holidays.
"In implementing the regulation, we allow the provincial
police to decide their own policies in line with the actual
situation in the society," said Zainuri.
Zainuri cited Sunday's rally in Jakarta, the biggest rally
ever in the country to date to protest the U.S.-led strike on
Iraq, which ran peacefully.
In the East Java capital of Surabaya, dozens of Indonesian
Muslim Student (HMI) activists rallied outside the U.S. Consulate
to condemn the attack on Iraq.
Under the watchful eyes of the police, the students pelted the
consulate with tomatoes. No arrests were made during the rally.
The consulate had just resumed activities after about a week
of closure. The U.S. Consul General in Surabaya, Phillips
Antwheler, told reporters that the rally against the Iraq war was
still tolerable.
In a related development, Jakarta Police grilled on Monday
chairman of the Islamic Youth Movement (GPI) Suaib Didu as a
suspect for allegedly instigating violence and threatening to use
violence.
"I come here (to the Jakarta Police Headquarters) to clarify
the police summons over two cases in which I am charged under
Criminal Code Article 336 and Article 160," Suaib told reporters.
Suaib could face a maximum sentence of two years and eight
months and six years in prison respectively for the two offenses.
Police have charged Suaib due to his earlier statements before
the media that he was threatening to bomb the U.S. Embassy.
Police also alleged that Suaib was aware that 10 of his
organization's members had committed violent raids targeting
foreigners last week. The GPI members are being detained.