'Black magic' killings may be organized: Dayat

SURABAYA (JP): East Java Police chief Maj. Gen. M. Dayat has said he suspected a mysterious murder spree in several East Java towns was the result of "organized crime".

As many as 100 Islamic teachers and others accused of practicing "black magic" have been killed to date.

"It's probably an organized movement, but it's still under investigation," Dayat was quoted by Antara as saying here on Monday. So far, the questioning of dozens of suspects already detained by the Banyuwangi Police indicate that the killings were motivated by either personal feuds or financial rewards.

"People bearing grudges against certain individuals then hired killers to commit the murders. So far, that's all we know about the motives for the killings," he said, adding the suspects were not only from Banyuwangi but also from neighboring Jember, Pasuruan and Probolinggo.

The police and the military are currently sheltering 277 people who fear they may be targets. Many of the victims were also ulemas from Indonesia's largest Moslem organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).

Brawijaya Regional Military Commander Maj. Gen. Djoko Subroto separately denied public accusations the military had been slow in handling the killings.

He said the murders of people suspected of dabbling in black magic had started in January and had become rampant in August and September.

"Security personnel are now taking measures which are showing results. We have sent troops to support the police (in safeguarding the towns)," he said. "It's not true that we're late in handling the situation."

Police have reported that knife-wielding killers, wearing ninja-like black dress and masks, had been attacking victims at night over the past two months in Banyuwangi regency, about 200 kilometers east of here.

Some of the bodies were reportedly mutilated, their throats slashed. Several were reportedly tossed into mosques or hung from trees.

Separately, Col. Budi Utomo, the police chief of Besuki -- whose jurisdiction covers Banyuwangi -- had ordered his men to shoot the killers on the spot.

Police source said 45 suspected killers had been arrested, along with 7 others suspected to have paid for the murders. So far, 87 crime scenes had been found but some of the detained suspects only admitted to have committed killings in 11 places.

Meanwhile, it was reported that Banyuwangi turned into a ghost town as residents stayed home. Locks were reinforced with wood planks and doors were barricaded with barb wires following a report that on Sunday four more bodies were found hanging on two trees in Seruni village in Kabat district.

Revenge

Moslem scholar Nurcholish Madjid separately said he suspected that revenge was behind the gruesome murders. "This is really strange. I suspect there's a factor of revenge (behind them) just like in 1965," he said as quoted Antara.

He was referring to the bloodbath that took place following an aborted coup attempt in 1965 blamed on the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Thousands of people were killed in the murder frenzy following the political tension.

Pointing at the "order" with which the killings were committed, Nurcholish speculated that a kind of "collective revenge" was actually behind the spree.

"I am afraid there's a kind of collective memory or group animosity at work. It's really strange that the Islamic teachers became the victims," he said.

"Communism as an ideology may have collapsed, but the group sentiment still exists and people should be aware of it," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

Nahdlatul Ulama chairman Abdurrahman Wahid had earlier been reported to demand that the military move quickly to halt the series of murders.

Ma'wah Masykur, a NU leader in South Kalimantan, was quoted by Antara as saying in the capital city, Banjarmasin, that he deplored the fact that the National Commission on Human Rights had been silent over the killings.

"Why is it still silent even though it is clear the killings were violations of human rights?" he said, adding that the commission should not be discriminatory in the cases it addressed. (nur/swe)