Protests grow over Tarmizi Taher's remark

JAKARTA (JP): Protests are pouring in over Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher's recent statement that rioters are allowed to be killed.

Said Agil Siraj and Sutrisno Muchdam, executives of the country's two largest Moslem organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, said that he should not have made the statement. The organizations have 30 million and 28 million followers respectively.

Tarmizi told 500 ulemas in East Java on Tuesday that "the blood and lives of recent rioters are halal (religiously permissible)... to be shed." He could not be reached for comment yesterday because he was abroad, according to his staff.

Said Agil said the statement was not based on any Islamic references.

"As a national religious leader, Tarmizi should have spoken using only true Islamic references," he said, adding that Islam respected the lives, blood and honor of all people.

Said cited a saying of Prophet Muhammad that it was better for a judge to free a person of all charges than to sentence him wrongly.

He said the qishash (death penalty) should only apply if a person committed murder and if "crime had become part of his personality".

"Those involved in the recent riots are not criminals who deserve such a penalty. (Government officials) have said that the rioters were provoked," he said.

Muhammadiyah deputy chairman Sutrisno said Tarmizi should have avoided using terms which could provoke the public.

The riots should be settled according to law, he said.

But Sutrisno conceded that: "Minister Tarmizi might have only been warning Moslems that widespread riots should not happen again."

Students of Yogyakarta's state-run Islamic Institute demanded yesterday that Tarmizi resign over his statement.

Five students organizations at the institute, including the Association of Moslem Students and the NU-affiliated student association PMII, said Tarmizi's statement could encourage forceful means for settling national problems. (11/23)