Communal clash in Lampung kills one and injures dozens

Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung

A communal clash on Wednesday in Merakbatin village, Lampung province, left one person dead and dozens of others injured. The clash also damaged a house belonging to a local resident and a mosque in the village, which is located some 40 kilometers north of Bandarlampung, the capital of Lampung province.

The dead victim was named as Suhaimi, 45, an employee of the State Plantation Company VII. He died of slash wounds on Wednesday evening after being treated for a few hours at the Abdoel Moeloek General Hospital in Bandarlampung.

Police personnel have sealed off the village late on Wednesday evening, but the situation remained tense on Thursday with residents still standing guard in front of their homes.

Police have detained 68 members of the Indonesia Institute for Islamic Propagation (LDII), a hard-line Muslim organization, dozens of motorcycles, long and short machetes, sickles, bamboo spears and a number of wooden clubs.

The clash was prompted by the construction of a mosque by members of the LDII, whom the local villagers oppose.

Defying opposition from the locals, the LDII members pressed ahead with the construction of their mosque.

A Banjarejo resident, Sukron, 35, said that the villagers, who felt that the LDII was a closed and exclusive movement, were enraged by the move, especially as the village already had a mosque.

Dozens of angry villagers carrying sharp weapons approached the LDII mosque, where a large group of LDII members were working, at noon on Wednesday and attacked them.

The LDII members responded to the attack by throwing bricks and attacking their foes with the timber beams they were using to build the mosque.

South Lampung Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Budi Susanto said that the police had arrested dozens of the belligerents following the clash. Police personnel then summoned the representatives of the opposing sides so that the police could help them negotiate an understanding. Both sides finally consented to stop the violence and signed a peace agreement in which the LDII promised to temporarily stop the construction work on the mosque. The incident claimed the life of local resident Suhaimi and injured dozens of people from both sides.

However, at about 5:50 p.m. on the same day, another clash broke out at the mosque when local residents heard the news of Suhaimi's death and went on a rampage, damaging the uncompleted mosque and the home of an LDII member, Kosim.

There are approximately 60 families belonging to the LDII, or a total of about 250 members (10 percent of Merakbatin's populace) in the village, said Sanusi, a member of the LDII.