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.