Observer blames recent riots on social discontent

JAKARTA (JP): The recent wave of riots has taught the nation that it is dangerous to underestimate social discontent stemming from state policies, Father Franz Magnis-Suseno said yesterday.

Magnis-Suseno said the government's support for last year's removal of Megawati Soekarnoputri from the Indonesian Democratic Party's helm was one of several unpopular policies.

Magnis-Suseno of Jakarta's Driyarkara School of Philosophy said this policy was a good example of the government upsetting the community.

Arbitrary treatment of criminals and evictions of the poor to make way for development was a common cause of social dissatisfaction that could lead to violence, he said.

"These have been the non-religious factors which have caused the riots all this time... They have angered not only Moslems, but also Catholics, Protestants... for it has something to do with social justice," Magnis-Suseno told a discussion on riots in religious society held by the Communion of Churches' youth commission.

He said that growing social disparity had been another cause of the riots.

"The gap isn't poverty but rather the frustration of people who feel the have worked hard but earn much less than those who are well connected with the power holders," he said.

He cited the building of luxurious houses and the construction of golf courses as among people's grievances over unfair development.

Unless these problems were properly addressed, more riots were likely, he said.

There were different motives for the many riots that had broken out across the country, Magnis-Suseno said.

In Java, the riots involved Moslems. But in East Timor, Catholics had turned violent and burned Protestant churches and mosques in 1995, Magnis-Suseno said.

Riots, in which places of worship were targeted at random, could have been caused by social injustice.

"In West Kalimantan the riots were purely based on ethnic divides, because no religious places were ransacked or burned."

Earlier this year, indigenous Dayaks and Madurese migrants clashed in West Kalimantan. Hundreds of people are believed to have been killed.

"The riots in Situbondo (East Java) and Tasikmalaya (West Java) were different in that places of worship were burned down systematically." he said.

"We've witnessed a systematic and brutal destruction of religious places in the latest development which has never happened before... It is possible that they were engineered," Magnis-Suseno said.

Magnis-Suseno said he was bewildered by the government's many statements about who was behind the riots, yet the results of its investigations had not been released.

The best way to prevent more religious violence, he said, would be for religious leaders to work closely together to promote tolerance.

Syaid Aqil of the 30 million-strong Nahdlatul Ulama Moslem organization said many riots involved Moslems because many Moslems had not learned the true meaning of Islam.

Aqil urged all preachers not to discredit other religions in their sermons.

"One should learn that religiosity is more important than just adoring religious symbols," he said. (aan)