Let's make a new start, military chief appeals

By MMI Ahyani

TASIKMALAYA, West Java (JP): The military appealed to residents of the town yesterday to forgive and forget and make a new start after last week's unrest that threatened to undermine peace between the various religious and ethnic communities.

Classes resumed yesterday at most schools, and shops and banks not destroyed in the riot were reopened, but the tension and the scars it left behind were still apparent.

Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher came from Jakarta for a meeting organized by the military with about 300 ulemas and local public figures in the town hall.

Chief of the West Java Regional Military Command Maj. Gen. Tayo Tarmadi used the occasion to explain the riot.

"Let's forget all the wounds and make a fresh start," Tayo said during the meeting. "Let us all look to the future."

He asked for forgiveness from religious and public leaders, saying the incident was beyond his control.

Tasikmalaya Regent Suljana W.H. admitted healing the wounds would take time, especially given the massive losses caused by damage to property.

"We'll need a long time to restore the town," he said.

He said material losses were estimated at Rp 85 billion (US$36 million).

Earlier estimates had put losses between 100 and 500 billion.

The military has only confirmed one dead, but local sources counted at least four bodies in the aftermath of the riot.

Regent Suljana said the violence destroyed 13 churches, 89 shops, 12 police stations, four factories, four schools, six banks and three hotels.

The violence started in a protest about alleged police brutality, but later it took on racist and sectarian connotations.

Three teachers of a Moslem boarding school were beaten during an investigation Monday. They had been summoned by one of the officers whose son, a student at the school, had been punished by the teachers for stealing.

Minister Tarmizi regretted the burning of churches.

"It is ironic because religion is actually the key to people's happiness in this world and the hereafter," he said.

He said the Tasikmalaya riots were not fueled by religious enmity. "None of the religions in the world teach enmity. It was people's attitudes which caused the riots."

He admitted worshipers in other parts of the world often took part in inciting riots, citing cases in the United States, Lebanon, India, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

A delegation from the National Commission on Human Rights dismissed claims that the riot was an anti-Christian movement.

"The riot was caused by social disparity. The rioters are only criminals," said Albert Hasibuan, who came with fellow commission members Syamsuddin and Charles Himawan.

The commission also visited a hospital which was treating eight children who were wounded when a grenade exploded in a mosque in Cibalong, 30 kilometers south of here, Sunday.

Asked about how the grenade could have fallen into the children's hands, Tayo said they took it from an officer, who had carelessly put the grenade down while he was taking an ablution before a prayer.

The officer is now under investigation and will be punished if he is proven to have been careless.

West Java Police Chief Maj. Gen. Nana Permana denied earlier reports that the grenade belonged to a police officer.

The earlier reports said the children found the grenade in a trash container near a police post, one of the buildings targeted in Thursday's riots.

It exploded when one of the children took the grenade into the mosque and pulled the pin causing a loud bang and destroying the mosque windows.

Portrait -- Page 2

Violence -- Page 2

Editorial -- Page 4