Four die in cult clash in Palu

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.