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.