NU denies church attacks fueled by religious hatred
JAKARTA (JP): The attack on churches, Christian schools and public buildings in East Java on Oct. 10 was a criminal act which was not fueled by religious hatred, an influential Moslem organization stated yesterday.
Officials of the 30-million-strong Nahdlatul Ulama reiterated their regret over the incident, but insisted that the organization was not behind the riots which claimed at least five lives.
"We believe the vandals were not Nahdlatul Ulama members," NU Secretary-General Ahmad Bagdja told reporters after meeting a delegation representing Christian and Catholic organizations.
The delegation consisted of 30 activists from the Movement of Indonesian Christian Youths, the Association of Indonesian Christian Intelligentsia, the Indonesian Christian Students Movement, the Indonesian Catholic Students Association and the Indonesian Christian Student Senates.
The delegation visited the NU headquarters to hail NU chairman Abdurrahman Wahid's stance on the tragedy in Situbondo and surrounding towns.
They said they appreciated Abdurrahman's statement because it had assured them that it was not religious hatred that had sparked the violence.
The riots erupted when Situbondo Moslems reacted violently to what they considered was a lenient jail sentence for a Moslem sect member charged with blasphemy against Islam.
An angry mob took the law into their own hands when Saleh, the accused, was sentenced to five years in jail. They reportedly tried to grab Saleh from the police with the intention of killing him. They failed.
During the riots, five people burned to death, over 20 churches were torched and several government buildings were attacked in the East Java town of Situbondo and surrounding areas.
When asked whether the NUs statement yesterday contradicted that of NU Chairman Abdurrahman, Ahmad said his statement was the expression of a responsible chairman who was aware that Situbondo was predominantly Moslem.
Abdurrahman, better known as Gus Dur, said Monday the incident was the NU leaders moral responsible because he believed many of the rioters were NU members. He asked for forgiveness for the loss inflicted on the government and the public.
The Christian delegation said they hoped the nation could learn from the incident on the need to improve the quality of inter-religion relationships.
They also said they hoped that all Christians in Situbondo would soon be able to visit their churches again without fear.
"We hope that in the long run the same interfaith dialogue can continue in future, so that all parties will have a better understanding," the delegation said in a statement.
In a related development, 17 non-governmental organizations went to the National Commission on Human Rights to demand an open investigation of the riots.
"Please stop politically summarizing the situation by looking for scapegoats accused of masterminding the incident, expressing condolences and investigating it," said Agus Edi Santoso, the spokesman of the group calling itself the Jakarta NGO Forum for Human Rights Violations in Situbondo.
He said such an open investigation would teach a political lesson.
"A secret investigation allows information to be twisted in ways that are favorable to oppressors," said Agus Edi Santoso, who is also chairman of the Center for Information and Education on Human Rights.
Commission member Soegiri told the visiting delegation of NGOs that the commission would hold a meeting to discuss whether such an investigation was within the commission's jurisdiction.
Separately, Chief of the Jakarta Regional Military Command Maj. Gen. Sutiyoso called on Jakarta's religious and public leaders to help calm the city's residents in view of the Situbondo riots.
"We expect that a Situbondo-style incident would not occur in Jakarta," Sutiyoso told religious and public leaders at a meeting at the Regional Military headquarters yesterday. (imn/14/26)
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