Recent incidents of unrest 'not caused by religious conflict'

Recent incidents of unrest 'not caused by religious conflict'

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Leading sociologist Loekman Soetrisno has
disclaimed the notion that incidents of unrest in Indonesia over
the past few years were sparked by religious conflict.

While religious sentiments could serve as an effective means
to mobilize people, conflict was more likely to emerge in
communities where members felt severe economic and political
frustration, he said in a discussion here Wednesday.

"Religious sentiments can easily be used to mobilize people
for negative purposes such as conflict, if the people are already
severely frustrated economically and politically," he said
revealing the result of a study conducted by Gadjah Mada
University's Center for Research and Rural and Regional
Development.

Loekman is the head of the center, and the study was financed
by the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Loekman said that many of the violent incidents evolved around
three core problems. The first was the domination of the state
over its subjects, leaving the latter feeling helpless before the
power.

The second was people's lack of trust in the bureaucracy, due
to the latter's insensitivity and poor service. The third,
Loekman said, was the massive penetration of capital to rural
areas which had robbed the community of control over their own
natural resources.

"The granting of forest concession rights to big businesses
and the expansion of oil palm plantations in several regions
outside of Java has not only reduced people's living space, but
also their forest income," he said.

The three problems had triggered people's outrage even over
seemingly trivial matters, he said.

In the past two years, Indonesia has been rocked by a number
of riots, many of which left a trail of death and destruction.
Public properties and houses of worship were also targets in the
violence.

The riots occurred in West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, East
Java, West Java, Central Java and some regencies in Irian Jaya.

In Sanggau Ledo regency in West Kalimantan, for instance,
thousands of Dayaks people went on a burning and looting rampage
on Jan. 2, the aftershock of an earlier ethnic tension that
claimed five lives. Thousands of migrants from Madura Island in
East Java fled the region which had a long history of feuds
between the ethnic groups.

There was no official statement about the actual number of
casualties in the unrest, but some people estimated it reached
"hundreds."

A participant in Wednesday's discussion questioned Loekman's
notion that the unrest was not sparked by religious sentiment,
saying that in most of the riots churches were burned and Moslem
minorities in some areas also became victims.

Loekman said that the churches and Moslem minorities were
turned into an object of people's outrage over a greater,
oppressing power. (23)