Satanic worship create real potential for conflict

Satanic worship create real potential for conflict

By Herdie Togas

MANADO, North Sulawesi (Antara): Recent reports of Satanic worship among local youth, published in serial form in the Manado Post daily, have shocked the provincial capital and other areas of the North Sulawesi province.

An investigative report by the "team of eleven" has drawn the interest of thousands of local people, primarily because the report quoted former members from the cult, who claim Manado is the "bed" of Lucifer the Devil.

According to the report, a number of community and Christian figures have been put on a death list, including E.E. Mangindaan, the North Sulawesi governor and W.A. Roeroe, synod chairman of the Minahasa Biblical Church of Our Lord, the largest church in North Sulawesi.

As a result of the report -- publication began in the fourth week of March and stopped a few days before Good Friday -- at least three luxurious homes worth over Rp 1 billion and a four- star hotel on the local beach have been visited by journalists. According to the report, they are places in which the heretical sect usually performs rites.

Local youth, however, have rejected the report and recently marched to the editorial office of the Manado Post, protesting the report.

What actually has been reported? The serialized report reveals a tendency among Manado's youth to profess "a new religious teaching". In many quarters, the teachings are considered heretical, because they allow the use of prohibited drugs and the act of free sex.

Satanic worshiping activity moves from one place to another, and according to former followers, every time a rite is performed a human offering must be made and a special communion in which the fresh blood of a baby is drunk is celebrated.

The report mentioned two women, claiming they were often "possessed" namely Rina Harsum Tamanampo, called the Devil Queen by her followers and Laura Gansalangi, dubbed the Devil's Daughter.

To carry out their mission, the Satanic cult have set up four groups called The Dragon Teams led by an American from Pittsburgh, the United States. The teams recruit as many members as possible and are not confined to soliciting Christians.

Institutionally, Satanic worship is related to the Satanic Church declared on April 30, 1966, in San Francisco, the United States, by a gypsy shaman known as Anthony Szandor Lavey.

The heretical teaching entered Indonesia in 1971 (Kalimantan) and in 1991 (North Sulawesi, particularly Manado).

An allegation that Satanic worshiping young men plotted to kill a number of community figures in North Sulawesi has been interpreted in a number of ways.

"Now that they have been said to threaten the lives of community and religious figures, we need data and facts to prove that this plan exists," said the leader of a local non- governmental organization, Verianto Madjowa.

If the report was not verified, the investigative team responsible for the report could be accused of being provocateurs, he said.

The two young women highlighted in the report, and said to be the "masterminds" of the Satanic group, must be questioned in detail, he said.

"The police will summon them soon for alleged Satanic worship activities as reported in the newspaper," North Sulawesi Police chief, Col. ST Marsono, said.

He said, however, the police had not received any reports from the community concerning missing babies.

Hospitals and maternity clinics in North Sulawesi stated that no more than five pregnant women had recently lost their lives in childbirth.

Responding to publication of the report, police have assigned intelligence and plainclothes officers to monitor the activities of youth in the area.

Chairman of the North Sulawesi regional executive board of the National Committee of Indonesian Youth Jeffrey Rawis, stressed that as the alleged Satanic worship involved a group of people, the police must take action to prove whether or not the report was true.

"As the names of the two young women mentioned in the report are now known to the public, the police must investigate them soon. They must also summon the reporters responsible for the report," he said.

North Sulawesi Governor, E.E. Mangindaan, who is said to be the prime target of the Satanic group, merely said: "Just leave everything to God". He has called on the community to intensify their prayer activities.

In North Sulawesi various forms of ethnic traditions, primarily in Bolaang Mongondow, Hulontalo (Gorontalo), Sangir Talaud and Minahasa, or Bohusami in abbreviation, remain part of the communities way of life.

Various forms of traditional worship are in existence, but they are not related to Satanic worship. The majority of the community have expressed their disapproval of the Satanic worshiping activities undertaken by local youth.

L. Supit, a Manado resident said the police and the prosecutor's office must clarify the matter, as otherwise the community would become confused. In turn this would eventually lead to new conflict, which may be manifested in rioting as has taken place elsewhere.