JP/5/sect

JP/5/sect

Police charge 12 doomsday sect leaders

Yuli Tri Suwarni
The Jakarta Post
Bandung

Police here detained on Tuesday 12 leaders of a Christian
"doomsday" sect for questioning as suspects charged with false
religious teaching that may have led to mass suicide.

The detainees could face five years in prison if proven guilty
of violating Article 156 (a) of the Criminal Code on the misuse
or besmirching of a religion, they added.

"We detained only 12 people, who claimed to be prophets
playing a key role in spreading the Sibuea teaching," Bandung
Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Eko Hadi Sutedjo said, referring to
the Sibuea church.

He said they included Michael and Daniel, sons of the sect's
top leader, Mangapin Sibuea, detained since Oct. 23 on charges of
disgracing religion.

Sibuea, 59, who calls himself the Apostle Paulus II, announced
in January that "doomsday" would take place on Nov. 10, 2003.

The 12 suspects were among 183 followers of the sect removed
by police on Monday as they gathered inside the Sibuea Church to
await "Judgment Day," scheduled for 3 p.m. the same day.

The removal was assisted by local Christian church leaders.

Many of the 283 followers, including children and women, came
from the provinces of Papua, Maluku, Sulawesi and East Nusa
Tenggara.

Except for the 12 charged suspects, other members would be
sent home so they could rejoin their respective churches, Sutedjo
said. "We consider them to be misguided victims of improper
religious teaching."

He said the police had also seized as evidence hundreds of
sharp weapons, such as knives, scissors and razor blades, as well
as books and VCDs at the "Prophet House," where the followers had
gathered since Friday.

The doomsday followers were evacuated because the police
feared they could commit mass suicide if the apocalypse did not
occur as expected.

The police entered the Sibuea church, located on Jl. Siliwangi
73, Bandung, shortly after the 3 p.m. deadline passed for the
"end of the world."

The sect had been banned by the West Java Prosecutor's Office
in 1999 and declared illegal.

In 2000, a similar doomsday sect emerged in the Central Java
regency of Rembang, where a group allowed free sex for followers
and obliged its female members to engage in sexual relations with
the group's leaders.