Situbondo riots may have been planned: Syarwan

Situbondo riots may have been planned: Syarwan

JAKARTA (JP): Armed Forces (ABRI) Chief of Sociopolitical
Affairs Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid said yesterday there were
indications that last week's attacks on East Javan churches were
"planned".

After questioning the 40 people arrested in connection with
the riots, authorities said they had found indications that the
riot had been planned, Syarwan told reporters after addressing a
leadership meeting of Golkar.

"The rioters said they held preparatory meetings for that
purpose," he said. "However, we have not yet formed any
conclusions."

Syarwan said the case is being handled by the East Java office
of the Agency for the Coordination of Support for the Development
of National Stability. "Let's just wait until the agency
announces its findings," he said.

Syarwan declined to name the suspected perpetrators of the
violence that left at least five people dead and damaged 25
churches, Catholic schools and other public facilities.

The riots in Situbondo were sparked by Situbondo Moslems'
anger over the jail term requested by the prosecution for a
Moslem sect member standing trial for blasphemy against Islam.

The mob, considering the requested punishment too lenient,
burned down the court building and set fire to a nearby church
after someone shouted that the defendant, Saleh, was hidden
inside.

The rampage spread to surrounding areas, and raged for five
hours before troops were able to contain it.

On Sunday, Abdurrahman Wahid, chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama
(NU), a Moslem organization that has strong membership in
Situbondo and the surrounding areas, begged for forgiveness
because he believed many of the perpetrators were NU members.

NU Secretary-General Ahmad Bagdja later said, however, that
the organization was not behind the riots. He said the attacks
were criminal acts, but were not fueled by religious hatred.

Yesterday, Abdurrahman said he did not think that the riots
were engineered but exploded out of people's rage. He also named
a number of factors that could have triggered the unrest,
including poverty.

Also yesterday, several high-ranking officials reiterated
their regrets over the incident and called for restraint from the
public.

"We'll uphold justice. We'll enforce the laws," Armed Forces
(ABRI) Commander Gen. Feisal Tanjung said after addressing the
Golkar meeting.

Amien Rais, the chairman of the 28-million-member Muhammadiyah
Moslem organization, expressed his conviction yesterday that the
riot was instigated by "certain parties".

Amien, who is also a political observer, said that rumors
often develop in the months preceding general elections and might
wreak havoc. "Issues that can easily create unrest are those
which concern religion, ethnicity and social groups," he said in
Semarang.

"Everybody, especially Moslems, should not be easily provoked
by those rumors," he said.

Legislators Suparman Achmad and Hari Sabarno of the ABRI
faction at the House of Representatives yesterday also expressed
their regret over the incident. Hari said that local authorities
failed to predict that the unrest would spread. (har/imn/swe)