Four die in cult clash in Palu
Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Palu
Police personnel and members of a little known cult clashed on Tuesday in a Palu subdistrict, leaving three policemen and a cult member dead.
Two among the three police personnel killed were Adj. Comr. Imam Dwi, the chief of intelligence section at the local police station and Adj. Comr. Fuadi Khalik, the chief of antiriot police. The two others were low ranking police personnel First. Brig. Arwan and a cult member identified as Hatu, 38.
The deadly clash between police and cult members, the first of its kind reported in the country, happened after a team of 16 police personnel attempted to arrest a cult leader in the morning. The leader was deemed responsible for spreading misleading teachings about Islam.
When the police tried to arrest their leader, dozens of the cult members resisted, leading to tension between the two groups. A heated argument quickly led to a skirmish. The police personnel fired warning shots as they were outnumbered by the cult members, but they were not fast enough.
Seeing a window of opportunity, the knife-wielding cult members quickly attacked the police, leaving three policemen dead. The attack, however, also claimed the life of one of the cult members who was shot dead. The remaining police officers fled the scene.
Another police officer, who asked to remain anonymous, said six police personnel were being held hostage by a group of people living in Gawalise, a mountainous area near Palu, the capital of South Sulawesi province.
Upon being informed about the incident, deputy chief of Central Sulawesi Police, Sr. Comr. Soekirno, promptly led some 100 heavily armed police personnel to free his men, but delayed the operation as it was already nightfall.
As of Tuesday night, police personnel were camping in mountainous area of Gawalise, waiting for right time to free fellow policemen held hostage by sect members, who are believed to be invulnerable to bullets. Police estimated the sect members number 400 people.
The sect has reportedly blended Islam with local traditions with the leader, called Mahdi, believed by the members to be the last Prophet as promised by the Koran.
The sect is just one among many that exist in the world's most populous Muslim nation. As is the case in other countries, the presence of such splinter groups has drawn suspicion and became the subject of dispute.
Sect members have often been the target of persecution both by members of mainstream beliefs and even the government. The government has often taken an uncompromising stance against such groups, alleging that they have the potential to disturb social harmony.
Aware of the government's position on the issue, religious hard-liners claiming to represent the majority have often taken the law into their own hands. A recent example of this occurred last month when hundreds of people vandalized dozens of houses belonging to a Muslim sect called Ahmadiyah.
Two years ago, police personnel detained 13 members of a Christian sect calling themselves Prophet Hut for believing that doomsday would occur in November two years ago. The sect leader, Rev. Mangapin Sibuea, was sentenced to two years in prison in 2004 for besmirching Christianity.