Poso parents mourn, urge police to find daughters' murderers

Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Palu

Lying helplessly in hospital, the stab wound on her face covered with antiseptics and gauze, the girl cries out in pain.

Noviana Malewa, 15, was one of four high school girls attacked by unidentified assailants on Saturday morning in Poso Sulawesi. The three other girls, who were also Noviana's cousins, were beheaded.

Noviana, a student of a Christian school in Poso escaped the ambush.

She has not been told about the beheadings.

"I only told her that her three cousins had been admitted to Tentena Hospital," Noviana's mother Nur Malewa told The Jakarta Post on Monday at the Central Sulawesi Police hospital, Bhayangkara.

A moment later, she broke down in tears.

"What did my daughter do to deserve this?" Nur said.

She recalled how the four girls -- Noviana, Theresia Morangke, 15, Alfita Poliwo, 17, and Yarni Sambue, 15 -- had traveled to and from school together.

The fathers of the three dead girls described them as spirited, active and popular young women who had done well at school.

Theresia's father Hendrius Morangke said his daughter had been obedient and pious, rarely missing church.

"I will never forget -- she always made me coffee, every single morning. Now that she's gone, I can only cry," he said.

Markus Sambue said it was agony to know that he could never again hear the angelic voice of his girl, Yarni, who had been a member of the church choir.

"I really loved her voice. Lord in Heaven, please accept her by your side," he said.

The mourning parents said they were not seeking to avenge the killings. Nor were they suspicious of any one group, meaning Muslims in particular.

"We're certain the perpetrators wanted to bring violence to Poso. We will never again be provoked," Nur said.

She said she only hoped her daughter would get better and the assailants would be brought to justice.

"We are not asking for much. The police shouldn't be idle -- they have to arrest the perpetrators, we have suffered enough."

Minister Renaldy Damanik, who heads the synod of the Central Sulawesi Christian Church, said the assailants were not Muslims from Poso, where some 2,000 people were killed in a bloody sectarian war a few years ago.

He said the killers had been acting on the instructions of a certain group who wanted to refuel hatred between Muslims and Christians.

Noted local Muslim cleric Adnan Arsal voiced the same concern, saying the police should not be quick to blame Muslim communities.

Central Sulawesi Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Rais D. Adam said that police had questioned six witnesses, including Noviana, a mother and her 10-year-old child.

Rais, however, added that the results of the investigation could not yet be made public.