East Java's cleric's killing 'politically motivated'

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A National Awakening Party (PKB) executive has said political motives were behind the killing of a party leader in East Java, although the police have dismissed the allegation.

PKB East Java chapter chairman Choirul Anam said on Sunday the killing was similar to many of the killings that occurred during a massive slaughter of party members prior to the general election in 1999.

"In Friday's incident, which killed our branch advisor, there was nothing taken from the house, so we suspect there were political motives behind the murder," Choirul told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Without identifying who might have committed the crime, he suggested it was intended to terrorize the party in its stronghold.

Choirul was commenting on the murder of Muslim cleric Asmuni Ishak in Jatiroto, Lumajang regency, East Java on Friday morning.

Asmuni, the PKB's advisory board chairman in Lumajang, was stabbed to death by a gang of six people clad in masks and armed with machetes who broke into his house.

Asmuni's wife, Siti Mutmainah, survived the attack but was severely wounded.

The cleric is the second party member murdered in the past week. Before him, Rafiq, a PKB activist in Jember regency, was also murdered. Choirul said Rafiq's death was a straightforward crime.

"Rafiq was an entrepreneur and he was murdered during a robbery," Choirul said.

The PKB's chief patron, Abdurrahman Wahid, who is also a former president of Indonesia, said the killings were part of an attempt to terrorize the PKB, and were reminiscent to that happened ahead of the 1999 elections, which catapulted him into presidency.

Dozens of Muslim preachers linked to the PKB were beaten or hacked to death in a number of different regencies in East Java, with the ostensible reason put around being that they practiced black magic.

The killings remain a mystery, and little attempt would appear to have ever been made to uncover the truth behind what seemed to be organized murders.

Abdurrahman said a certain "national-level leader" was involved in the attempt to demoralize his party's followers, but refused to identify the person.

In East Java, which is known to be a PKB stronghold, attacks on Muslim preachers have a major potential to trigger unrest.

The PKB won the most votes in the province, ahead of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle.

On Sunday, the police brushed aside allegations that political motives were behind the latest murders of PKB members, saying the incidents were purely criminal in nature.

East Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Heru Susanto said it would be going too far to allege political reasons were behind the murders.

"We are still investigating these cases, but both the murders appear to be based upon personal motives or violent robbery ... it is going too far to say they were politically motivated," Heru said as quoted by Antara.

The police said they had formed four teams to hunt down the killers and investigate the incidents.

Regarding the killing of Rafiq, Heru said the police had arrested four suspects, including two former drivers of the deceased.

Choirul said that he hoped that Asmuni's killing was nothing more than a simple crime, but to ensure the safety of his members he had asked the party's civilian guards to protect party's executives.

"I have asked the NU-youth wing, Ansor, and NU civilian guards Banser to help us because we do not want to wait for a recurrence of the 1999 massacre," he said.