Govt wants firm action against hard-liners: Kalla

Govt wants firm action against hard-liners: Kalla

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Contradicting earlier comments by a Cabinet minister, the Vice
President promised on Monday that firm action would be taken
against Muslim hard-liners who forcibly closed down Christian
places of worship as they were damaging religious harmony and
taking the law into their own hands.

"We have talked to the police. We must be firm now. If we have
a problem, we must not resort to violence in order to solve it.
Instead, we must resolve it together as the nation belongs to all
of us," Vice President Jusuf Kalla told leaders of Islamic
organizations gathered at the Muhammadiyah headquarters in
Central Jakarta.

Only on Saturday, Minister of Religious Affairs Maftuh Basyuni
joined the police in saying that the hard-liners would not be
punished, arguing that they were only acting against "illegal
congregations".

The anti-Christian attacks continued on Saturday, with a hard-
line Muslim group calling itself the Anti-Apostasy Alliance
Movement (AGAP), closing one unofficial place of worship in
Margahayu Raya. AGAP leader Muhammad Mu'min Al Mubarak claimed
that local residents had asked the group to close the prayer
house as it was unlicensed.

Also on Saturday, a mob of around 100 people shut down a
Christian prayer house located in Larangan subdistrict, Kebayoran
Lama, South Jakarta, demanding that its congregation move to a
church in Pesanggrahan subdistrict nearby. No violence occurred
as the clergyman agreed under pressure to the demand.

Monday's meeting between Kalla and the Muslim leaders had
originally been planned to brief them about the Memorandum of
Understanding signed by the government and the Free Aceh Movement
(GAM) in Helsinki on Aug. 15.

According to Kalla, Indonesian people of different religious
persuasions should refrain from using violence when settling
disputes.

"We must be able to exercise restraint so that this sort of
thing does not happen again. It is our responsibility to stop the
violence now," he said.

Kalla mediated peace agreements to end bloodshed between
Christians and Muslims in Maluku and the Central Sulawesi regency
of Poso a few years ago.

Meanwhile, Muslim figures called for interfaith talks to
settle the matter.

"A dialog is necessary. But the dialog must be conducted in a
give-and-take manner," chairman of the 30-million strong
Muhammadiyah, Din Syamsuddin, said.

Din said the government had to do its part by upholding
the regulations requiring permits for the establishment of houses
of worship.

"Violence is not the way. Muslim people must not be easily
provoked into violence that will only serve to destroy religious
harmony," he told reporters.

According to Din, a Muslim community would not oppose the
establishment of a church as long as the necessary permits were
obtained and respect shown to the local people.

"But a problem of social ethics arises if a church is set up
in an area where Muslims are in the majority," he said.

Tarmizi Taher, the chairman of the Indonesia Tablig Council,
called on the Ministry of Religious Affairs to initiate
interfaith talks to settle the issue. However, he asserted that
people must respect the joint ministerial decree that requires a
Christian congregation to secure approval from the local
community before setting up a place of worship -- something that
is normally extremely difficult or impossible in practice.

Separately, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Aryanto
Boedihardjo said that police chief Gen. Sutanto had ordered local
police forces to take action against anyone who violated the law.

The police would also encourage the public to report any
violations to the local police instead of taking the law into
their own hands.