'Black magic' killings may be organized: Dayat

'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)