East Lombok calm after attack on Islamic sect

The Jakarta Post Jakarta

Calm returned on Monday to Batuyang village in East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara after a mob burned down a mosque and destroyed eight houses belonging to members of the Indonesian Islam Propagation Council (LDII) sect over the weekend.

West Nusa Tenggara Police First Insp. Pitoyo Agung said that dozens of police personnel were sent to the village in anticipation of further attacks.

A group of locals attacked the LDII Muslim sect on Saturday and Sunday evenings over differences in religious practices, forcing 75 people to run to the police station for protection.

Locals accused LDII of preaching and practicing a deviant form of Islam.

No casualties were reported in the attack that saw one mosque and eight houses belonging to the sect burned down.

Regent Syahdan and West Nusa Tenggara Police chief Brig. Gen Iman Haryatna held a meeting with members of the local community and religious leaders on Monday to resolve the conflict.

Meanwhile, West Nusa Tenggara Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) secretary Hazmi Hamzar said on Monday that his office would organize a team to investigate the case.

He regretted that local officials had ignored LDII, despite a 1995 agreement banning the sect from establishing a mosque.

"Their indifference has made the public take the law into their own hands. They should have anticipated this. However, I urged the public to control their vigilantism and let the government settle the problem," Hazmi said.

He said that LDII followers did not want to mingle with other Muslims and refused to pray with other Muslims.

"LDII teachings in Bima deviate too much (from Islam). They replace some of the Holy Koran verses that they think are irrelevant with verses they make up," he said.

West Nusa Tenggara provincial secretary Lalu Djafar Suryadi said that the public should ask LDII members to follow the correct teachings if they think LDII was deviant.

"It is the obligation of all Muslims to lead their lost brothers back to the right path through guidance, not by violence," he said.

The incident was the second attack against Muslim sects in East Lombok.

Residents had attacked members of the Ahmadiyah sect in nearby Pancor Selong on Sept. 12, setting on fire eight houses and destroying dozens of other buildings, including a mosque. At least 280 Ahmadiyah followers are staying at the Transito dormitory in Mataram.

Lalu said on Monday that the provincial administration had given Ahmadiyah refugees six days to choose whether to abandon their way of life or move to West Java where the central organization of the Ahmadiyah was based.

"The ultimatum was given on Sunday. I hope that they can solve their own problems. The provincial administration is just a facilitator," he said.

He said that the people of East Lombok were willing to rebuild the damaged houses and accept the Ahmadiyah followers if they promised to let go of their current belief.