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.