Police investigate church closures, vow to take action
Police investigate church closures, vow to take action
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post/Bandung
Bandung Police in West Java, bowing to public pressure, are
taking firm action against Muslim hard-liners blamed for closing
dozens of neighborhood churches there.
The police questioned on Friday suspect Muhammad Mu'min Al-
Mubarak, the Anti-Apostasy Movement Alliance (AGAP) commander who
led mobs to forcibly close more than 30 churches in Bandung and
neighboring areas.
But the suspect was not charged for the closure of the
churches which the AGAP claimed were "illegal".
Mu'min was instead questioned in connection with the
unauthorized confiscation of liquor by 300 of his followers on
July 24, 2005 from at least seven shops in Bandung.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison as
stated in Article 406 of the Criminal Code.
During the incident, the hard-liners from the Anti-Vice
Movement (Gama) also led by Mu'min seized more than one truck of
alcoholic drinks from the seven shops.
His lawyer Qadhar Faisal Ruskanda said Mu'min had to answer 17
questions posed by Bandung Police detectives during three hours
of questioning.
Qadhar said his client was summoned following complaints filed
with the police by the owners of three raided shops -- Antonius,
Ibu Maryati and Aceng.
According to Mu'min who spoke to journalists after the
questioning, the anti-liquor raids were launched without violence
against the shop owners and in the presence of local police
officers.
Mu'min accused the police of playing politics by making him a
suspect in a case that took place a month ago.
Even after the raids, the suspect said, he and other Muslim
clerics including Abdullah "Aa Gym" Gymnastiar, Athian Ali and
Sidik Amin held a meeting on Aug. 2 with Bandung Police chief Sr.
Comr. Edmon Ilyas to discuss the fight against liquor in Bandung.
"In the meeting the police asked us to strengthen cooperation
in anti-liquor efforts. If what I had done was wrong, I should
have been summoned directly as a suspect," Mu'min argued. "I
believe that the charge against me is related to another case."
He said the questioning was aimed at "curbing" his drive to
"put illegal churches in order".
Moderate Muslim figures, including former president
Abdurrahman "Gus Dur' Wahid and Azyumardi Azra, have urged the
police to take firm action against the Islam Defenders Front
(FPI) which is part of the AGAP over the church closures.
Individuals and groups, whoever they may be, are prohibited by
law from taking the law into their own hands and must respect
freedom of religion, they said.
Meanwhile, West Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Muryan Faisal
rejected reports that his force backed the church closures by the
hard-line groups, despite the fact that police officers escorted
them.
The presence of police officers there was merely to prevent
the extremist Muslims from engaging in anarchy during the raids
against churches, he claimed.
"The government should have played a role as a mediator in
such a conflict. The task of the police is to provide security so
as to prevent violence and anarchy. The police have no authority
to close houses of worship," Muryan said.
Earlier on Thursday, he told The Jakarta Post that his office
supported the closing of churches which he said were established
illegally in private houses without the necessary permits and the
consent of residents in the neighborhood.
West Java Christian leader John Simon Timorason has said at
least 35 churches in Bandung and neighboring regencies had been
closed by Islamic mobs during the past year.