NU groups concerned over riots
JAKARTA (JP): Eight suborganizations of the 30-million-strong Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) warned yesterday that the recent flurry of religious and ethnic riots reflected waning public trust in the government.
They said in a joint statement that the violence reflected people's frustration with political and legal institutions, which they said discriminated against the oppressed majority.
"People tend to take the law into their own hands in settling social problems because they consider themselves as the losers," they said.
They also charged that some government officials were apparently unaware that rapid economic progress was a catalyst for sociocultural changes in society.
"Many government officials have been trapped in false prejudices as a result of their inability to understand people's wishes," they said.
The NU suborganization activists are the latest in a long line of people to express concern about the recent riots and the resulting tension that still prevails in many areas.
One of the riots occurred in July last year following the violent takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party headquarters by a government-backed rebel faction. Five people died, 149 were injured and 23 others are still missing.
Religious and ethnic riots erupted in the East Java town of Situbondo in October and the West Java towns of Tasikmalaya in December and Rengasdengklok last month. Ten people died; more than 40 churches and Buddhist temples were razed or damaged and scores of properties owned by people of Chinese descent were wrecked.
Ethnic rioting pitting Dayak tribespeople and Madurese migrants in West Kalimantan continued for several days following the Dec. 30 clashes that left at least four people dead, several hundred houses destroyed and 21 people missing.
Situbondo and Tasikmalaya are strongholds of Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest religious and educational organization led by controversial scholar Abdurrahman Wahid.
NU activists have been accused of involvement in the unrest but Abdurrahman has strongly denied this.
Chairman of the Indonesian Islamic Students Movement (PMII) Chatibul Umam Wiranu charged that the government had not been serious in its investigation of the riots.
"The authorities have not questioned people who were seen agitating the crowd. They only focus on PMII activists they suspected were involved in the riot," Chatibul said.
The authorities in Tasikmalaya have questioned three suspects and are hunting down another.
"Based on information from witnesses and field evidence, the four men are suspected of inciting the riot," the West Java provincial prosecutor's deputy, Armin Aribowo, was quoted by Antara as saying.
He identified the suspects only by their initials AGS, AM, AI and MH. MH is still at large. Press reports have identified the four as members of several youth and Moslem organizations.
The Union of Indonesian Catholic Students blamed the country's economic policies, which allowed economic power to be concentrated in the hands of a few people, as a major cause of the unrest.
"The uneven distribution of state wealth has created economic disparity," the union said in a statement.
The union also blamed the country's poor law enforcement and judicial systems for polarizing society.
"Legal uncertainty and discrimination drive people to take the law into their own hands to settle social and state problems."
The union also said the people's violent actions were a reflection of the government's excessive abuse of power.
Separately, the Communion of West Java Churches called on the authorities to punish severely the rioters and those masterminding the unrest to prevent similar violence from reoccurring. (imn)