Military warns public on religious fanaticism

Military warns public on religious fanaticism

JAKARTA (JP): The military claim last week's communal disturbance in the Pekalongan, Central Java, follows a pattern of exploitation of politically sensitive racial, ethnic and religious differences found in earlier riots.

Armed Forces chief spokesman Brig. Gen. Suwarno Adiwijoyo told Antara on Saturday that, following the Pekalongan incident, people should be wary and critical of rumors which attempted to create instability by pitting one group against another.

"People should not be easily incited by religious fanaticism," he said, underlining the vulnerability of people to agitations exploiting religious, ethnic and racial issues.

"If we look at the pattern, they all used the same 'communist' method," Suwarno said.

He said it was reasonable to suspect the incidents were engineered "by certain people to create instability".

The military has imposed a night curfew in Pekalongan because of the riots.

Last Wednesday, hundreds of people went on the rampage, attacking shops and setting cars on fire after news spread that a man had allegedly abused the Koran, the Moslem holy book. There were no reported casualties.

Police have since said the man was mentally ill and therefore his action was not intended to specifically denigrate Islam.

Calm was restored but another riot erupted on Friday in Central Pekalongan moments after the Moslems' mass prayer.

There have been at least two communal conflicts in the last two months, one in the Purwakarta, West Java and another in several cities in East Timor. (emb)