JP/2/A01

JP/2/A01
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Poso parents mourn, urge police to resolve latest killing

Ruslan Sangadji
The Jakarta Post/Palu

Lying helplessly in hospital, the stab wound on her face covered
with antiseptics and gauze, the girl cries out in pain.

Noviana Malewa, 15, was one of four high school girls attacked
by unidentified assailants on Saturday morning in Poso Sulawesi.
The three other girls, who were also Noviana's cousins, were
beheaded.

Noviana, a student of a Christian school in Poso escaped the
ambush.

She has not been told about the beheadings.

"I only told her that her three cousins had been admitted to
Tentena Hospital," Noviana's mother Nur Malewa told The Jakarta
Post on Monday at the Central Sulawesi Police hospital,
Bhayangkara.

A moment later, she broke down in tears.

"What did my daughter do to deserve this?" Nur said.

She recalled how the four girls -- Noviana, Theresia Morangke,
15, Alfita Poliwo, 17, and Yarni Sambue, 15 -- had traveled to
and from school together.

The fathers of the three dead girls described them as
spirited, active and popular young women who had done well at
school.

Theresia's father Hendrius Morangke said his daughter
had been obedient and pious, rarely missing church.

"I will never forget -- she always made me coffee, every
single morning. Now that she's gone, I can only cry," he said.

Markus Sambue said it was agony to know that he could never
again hear the angelic voice of his girl, Yarni, who had been a
member of the church choir.

"I really loved her voice. Lord in Heaven, please accept her
by your side," he said.

The mourning parents said they were not seeking to avenge the
killings. Nor were they suspicious of any one group, meaning
Muslims in particular.

"We're certain the perpetrators wanted to bring violence to
Poso. We will never again be provoked," Nur said.

She said she only hoped her daughter would get better and the
assailants would be brought to justice.

"We are not asking for much. The police shouldn't be idle --
they have to arrest the perpetrators, we have suffered enough."

Minister Renaldy Damanik, who heads the synod of the Central
Sulawesi Christian Church, said the assailants were not Muslims
from Poso, where some 2,000 people were killed in a bloody
sectarian war in 2001-2002.

He said the killers had been acting on the instructions of a
certain group who wanted to refuel hatred between Muslims and
Christians.

Noted local Muslim cleric Adnan Arsal voiced the same concern,
saying the police should not be quick to blame Muslim
communities.

Central Sulawesi Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Rais D. Adam
said that police had questioned six witnesses, including Noviana,
a mother and her 10-year-old child.

Rais, however, added that the results of the investigation
could not yet be made public.