Muslim activists were not involved in bombing: Officials
JAKARTA (JP): Muslim activists were not involved in a series of bomb explosions at churches in seven provinces on Christmas Eve, a police officer and a minister said on Tuesday.
Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Mulyono Sulaiman said that based on its ongoing investigation, the police have yet to find any connection between the bombings and any Islamic organizations.
"There is no certain group connected with the bombings yet," Mulyono told reporters after a ceremony at the City Police headquarters.
Mulyono was responding to a question about whether the bombings were perpetrated by certain religious organizations, such as the so-called Angkatan Mujahidin Islam Nusantara (Mujahidin Nusantara Islamic Force/AMIN).
In April 1999, police arrested several people reported to be AMIN members for allegedly bombing an office on Jl. Hayam Wuruk and robbing a bank near the scene in West Jakarta.
Police also claimed that a man who was arrested for attacking the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Deputy Speaker Matori Abdul Djalil in March, last year, was a member of the same group.
Similarly, Minister of Defense Mahfud M.D. expressed his confidence that the bombers were not Muslim activists.
"Public opinion or stigma that the bombings were conducted by Muslim activists should be abandoned. Pictures of people wearing Muslim caps have been published in the mass media as if they are Muslim activists," Mahfud said in Surabaya after meeting East Java Governor Imam Utomo.
He said the people, who looked like Muslim activists, were field operators hired by higher echelons of people.
Mahfud was likely referring to the owner of a welding shop on Jl. Terusan Jakarta in Bandung, West Java, identified as Haji Aceng, and several of his workers, whose pictures are being circulated as fugitives by the police. The workshop is believed to have been used by people assembling bombs.
Mahfud dismissed the possibility of any involvement by active officers of the Indonesian Military (TNI) in the bombings, but said that retired TNI officers might be involved.
He said earlier that the bombings were conducted by a group related to the new order regime under former president Soeharto.
But Mulyono said the police have yet to find any involvement of TNI members after questioning 155 witnesses.
He quoted a report from the police forensic laboratory that there were similarities between the bombs found in Jakarta and in Bandung.
"There are many similarities, such as how the bombs were made, their types and the timing of the explosions," Mulyono said.
Meanwhile, in Bandung, Farhat Abbas, a lawyer for two key witnesses and suspects in the local bombing -- Roni Miliar and Agus Kurniawan -- submitted a written request to the West Java Police and National Police Chief on Tuesday, asking for police protection for them and their families.
"They are afraid because there are parties who assume that they know too much about the bombings," Farhat said.
The Sartika Asih Police Hospital, where both Roni and Agus are being treated, received a bomb threat last Friday.
Police have yet to respond to the request.
Both Agus and Roni have claimed that they did not know how to assemble bombs, and were only asked to put the bombs at places ordered by Akim, a third suspect who died in the blast on Jl. Terusan Jakarta on Dec. 24.
Roni said he was asked to put a bomb in a church on Jl. Gatot Subroto, while Agus was asked to put another in a church on Jl. Achmad Yani. Each of them had received Rp 300,000 (US$31) from Akim.
Separately, a group of Chinese Indonesians and two Christian groups in Surabaya donated Rp 17.5 million to a relative of Riyanto, a member of Banser youth wing of the Nahdlatul Ulama Muslim organization, who was killed while guarding a church in Mojokerto, Antara reported.
Three churches in the town were bombed on Christmas Eve. The Mojokerto Police have questioned a total of 35 witnesses over the three bombing incidents.
"So far we haven't found any significant leads and none of the witnesses are declared as suspect(s)," Mojokerto Police chief Supt. Ridho Waseso told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
"We have distributed a drawing of a potential witness who was said to have brought a gift-wrapped package that night to Santo Yosef Church on Jl. Pemuda, but nothing has come up," he said.
Police have seized two explosives found at Bethany Church on Jl. Pemuda and Allah Baik Church on Jl. HOS Cokroaminoto as evidence. The explosives contained 0.5 kilogram TNT, Gotri and timers wrapped in paper similar to traditional firecrackers. (jun/ylt/25/nur/edt)