Defense of a new cultural tolerance emerging

Defense of a new cultural tolerance emerging

SINGAPORE: The Christmas Eve bombings in Indonesia, targeted
at churches and Christian worshipers, were heinous and deeply
offensive for the calculated desecration committed on a solemn
day. Up to 15 people are dead, not all of them Christians
attending Mass. Two policemen in Pekanbaru, Riau, died defusing a
bomb.

Another casualty was a member of a Muslim youth group in the
East Java town of Mojokerto, which had offered to guard churches
on the night before Christmas.

But in Medan, pastors received Christmas packages with bombs
inside. Given the festering social divisions and ethnic strife
triggered by the fall of Soeharto, it must be asked how much more
Indonesia can take of these blows to the body politic. Terrorist
brinkmanship has mortal thresholds: Indonesia must pray that
Muslims who observe Hari Raya (Idul Fitri) on Wednesday after the
close of the holy month of Ramadhan will be spared what their
Christian countrymen had fallen victim to. One outrage is quite
enough. The security authorities are fearful there might be
revenge attacks, or a continuation of the present wave. Revenge
by whom?

Suspicion is strong that agents from foreign terror networks
could be involved. The blasts (18 went off and nearly as many
were defused) were too well-coordinated across a large geographic
spread to have been the work of disparate dissident units in
Islamic or ethnic-based organizations.

These took place in eight cities and towns across Java,
Sumatra, Lombok and Batam. Security sources said they were
"professional, well-organized, terrorist acts".

If foreign infiltration is established, it will introduce a
dangerous dimension to the Indonesian conflict as the aims of
external intervention would be impossible to discern. Whom might
they be collaborating with, or providing armed support to? It is
also possible that rogue elements of the military, or backers
loyal to the Soeharto family, were implicated. They have the
motive and the resources, and have been routinely accused by the
police each time disturbances occurred. The car bombing outside
the Philippine ambassador's home in August, followed by the
Jakarta stock exchange blast in September in which 15 people
died, could form part of the handiwork.

President Abdurrahman Wahid says he suspects local subversive
forces are creating these incidents to destabilize his
administration. The broad assessment is plausible, but it is the
forms of civil disorder employed in pursuit of the objectives
that should worry the authorities most.

Would it be through inter-religious hatred? Muslim-Christian
animosities in the Maluku islands have resulted in 5,000 deaths
since January last year, but Java has, thus far, been largely
free of religious violence.

Muhammadiyah, the country's second largest Islamic
organization after the Nahdlatul Ulama, now thinks troublemakers
are trying to create a "second Moluccas" in Java by pitting
religion against religion. Would it be ethnic assaults, such as
Muslims on Chinese? One imponderable of the Christmas Eve terror
is that intended Christian victims were mainly Chinese.

This could well be a Machiavellian double-play to sow discord
between the Chinese minority and the state, as confidence has
been eroded since the attacks on Chinese women and properties two
years ago.

These scenarios bear watching. From the Christmas Eve
incidents, however, President Abdurrahman can draw advantage.
Condemnations by Muslim groups and the convergence of Islamic and
Christian organizations in defense of cultural tolerance are
rising. He can use the new solidarity to roll back divisive
forces.

-- The Straits Times/Asia News Network