Religious leaders slam 'racial' riots
Religious leaders slam 'racial' riots
JAKARTA (JP): Leaders of all the country's major religions
have condemned the "racial" riots in Jakarta last month that left
more than 1,000 people dead and called for an independent team to
investigate what they termed "despicable and barbaric acts".
The leaders, who met at the residence of Nahdlatul Ulama
chairman Abdurrahman Wahid in South Jakarta yesterday, said the
May 13-May 14 riots were incited in an "organized and systematic"
way by people who exploited existing racial and socioeconomic
differences.
In a petition, the leaders urged the government "to take
concrete steps to show its remorse toward this barbaric affair.
"We also call on the government, the authorities and anyone
who feels compelled to uphold justice, to use all their power to
terminate immediately all forms of behavior that try to divide
the nation by exploiting differences.
"Today, it is happening to people of Chinese descent. Unless
we eliminate this, it will happen to other ethnic groups."
The leaders said the government must use an independent team
to investigate thoroughly and in a transparent manner those who
allegedly incited and spread the hatred that led to the riots.
"They should be tried and punished so that this incident does
not happen again."
President B.J. Habibie ordered the Armed Forces last week to
look into allegations the riots were the work of an organized
group.
Chief of the Jakarta Military Command Maj. Gen. Sjafrie
Sjamsoeddin said later that he found most of the riots were
spontaneous, and believed the involvement of any organized group
was sporadic and localized.
About 20 religious leaders signed the statement yesterday.
Along with Abdurrahman, who heads the 30-million-strong Moslem
organization, they included Sularso Sopater of the Indonesian
Communion of Churches, Archbishop Julius Darmaatmadja, Putu Setia
of the Indonesian Hindu Intellectuals Association and Paul
Tahalele of the Communication Forum of Indonesian Christians.
Democracy leader Megawati Soekarnoputri cut the tumpeng, the
traditional yellow rice cone, which she gave to Archbishop
Darmaatmadja.
Most of the participants later traveled to Klender, East
Jakarta, to pray outside the gutted Yogya department store
building. More than 100 people, mostly looters, died in the
building when they were trapped by fire during the riot.
The leaders said they so felt strongly about the racial basis
of the riots that they were compelled to issue the statement.
"On the pretext that they were Chinese, they had their
properties looted, their places of business destroyed, their
bodies tortured, their lives taken away, and as if that was not
enough, their women were harassed and even raped," the statement
said.
"Out of despair and shame, some of the victims have since
taken their own lives."
The looters were vulnerable to incitement because of their
poverty, it said, and some subsequently lost their lives.
"One is born to an ethnic group; one does not choose one's
ethnicity. It's a blessing from God that each person is born
differently.
"Differences that exist are holy and are intended to make
people work together, (in) mutually fulfilling and enriching
(ways). They are not meant to pit one against another to make
them enemies.
"Discrimination based on race, especially torture based on
race, is an action that has degraded humanity and is against
justice.
"The acts of violence against those who were born and raised
in Indonesia, their country and motherland, have tarnished the
image of Indonesia as a nation," the statement said.
The leaders also called on the security forces to ensure the
safety of every citizen in the country. (byg/mds/emb)