Mahdi offers alternative faith

Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Palu

The hamlet of Salena is located about 11 kilometers west of Palu city on fertile land. The weather is cool and as night falls, the mountainous region is shrouded with fog.

But blood is running hot in this once-quiet place after clashes between the local Mahdi religious sect and police erupted on Tuesday.

Details are sketchy but the roots of the sect, led by a charismatic 27-year-old man they believe to be the last prophet, imam Mahdi, are thought to lie in the traditions of the local Kaili tribe. The Kaili were earlier animists before converting to Islam and Christianity but many have long mixed local traditions into their new faiths.

A new stream of religion emerged a few years ago when Mahdi arrived in the area and won respect as a shaman and a healer who blended Christian and Islamic tenets with local customs.

Later, he preached to residents to leave Islam and Christianity, calling their beliefs heretical and advising his followers not to pray and perform the fast during Ramadhan or go to church.

Those who became his followers were given white head bands and yellow shoulder sashes and now number a band of about 400 people.

The rapid growth of the sect disturbed members of mainstream religious groups in the area. Believing the group could create disturbances in the area and fearing their religions would lose converts to the new sect, they reported the Mahdi followers to the police.

Despite the Constitution granting the freedom to practice one's religion, the police tried to arrest Mahdi and take him in for questioning apparently on charges of spreading false beliefs.

However, they were met with stiff resistance, leading into the deaths of five people -- three police officers and two Mahdi followers.

Disputes between traditional and modern forms of religion are not new in the country. In the 19th Century a similar struggle began between the customary communities in Minangkabau, West Sumatra, and the Padri Islamic purists.

Fighting was common between the two sides, with the Padri community attempting to convince Minangkabau traditionalists to follow the "true spirit" of the Koran and the Hadits and not to blend traditional cultures with Islam. By the 20th Century, this conflict had largely subsided.