'State protects religious communities'

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto restated yesterday the state's responsibility to protect all religious communities and to support their continued development.

A mutually supportive relationship should exist between religious communities and the state, said Soeharto in his opening address at the congress of Syarikat Islam, one of the oldest Moslem organizations.

"Any member of any religious community is a citizen whose safety has to be protected, whose welfare has to be improved, and whose ability has to be enhanced," he told senior ulemas of the group.

As citizens, members of religious groups are entitled to state facilities and obliged to support national development planning.

"The state will protect and support efforts of religious communities to advance themselves," Soeharto promised.

Established in 1911, Syarikat Islam was an offshoot of Sarekat Dagang Islam of Surakarta in Central Java, which was formed to campaign against the domination of ethnic Chinese in trade and the local nobility then.

Also known as Sarekat Islam, the organization became one of the prime-movers in forming the modernist Moslem movement, and gained substantial political clout during the independence years.

Soeharto called on all religious groups to help one another in achieving better standard of life, spiritually and materially.

"The more prosperous and devout people are, the better their conduct becomes, and the stronger their feeling of brotherhood becomes...not only toward those of the same faith, but to all mankind," Soeharto said.

"We are a diverse nation. We follow different faiths. This diversity should not hinder our co-existence. Instead, we should look at difference as a reflection of God's greatness," he said.

The nation should encourage each group to practice their faith well. "The greatness of the faiths should be reflected in their people's conduct," he said.

Soeharto's statement came as the small East Java town of Situbondo recovered from the shock which followed attacks on its churches. The riots claimed five lives and damaged a score of buildings.

The military has said that the riots were planned and the violence provoked.

Religious leaders, however, have said that the riots were not caused by religious enmity, but by misunderstanding. Abdurrahman Wahid, the chairman of Indonesia's largest Moslem organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), had begged for forgiveness for any damage caused by NU members.

Separately yesterday, Sahal Mahfudz, the deputy chairman of NU law-making body Syuriyah, repeated his conviction that the riots were not prompted by religious tension but had more to do with social and cultural factors.

"Most of the Situbondo people, who are of Maduran ethnicity, are easily provoked and temperamental," he said on Sunday. "It's really regrettable, but...it's really because they were emotional...and did not understand the law."

The violence in Situbondo was sparked by Moslems outraged at what they considered a too lenient demand for punishment against Saleh, a local Moslem.

Saleh was on trial for alleged blasphemy against Islam and for tarnishing the name of the late K.H. As'ad Syamsul Arifin, a respected ulema of NU.

The mob attacked churches when they heard shouts claiming the defendant was hiding in a church. A total of 53 people were reportedly taken into custody at local police stations.

Some military officials claim to have discovered the existence of "commanders of sections" in each of the areas hit by the riots. Maj. Gen. Imam Utomo, the chief of Brawijaya regional military command, said he believed the violence was a purely criminal act rather than an act born out of religious hatred.

Muladi of the National Commission on Human Rights told The Jakarta Post separately that cases of religious tension, such as the one in Situbondo, could not be handled with a "security approach" only.

Instead, the government needs to include social scientists in investigations, to examine the situation and suggest ways to handle it.

"Social scientists are needed to study why the social conflict occurred," he said on Thursday. "It's like a fire, it's easy to extinguish it, it's more difficult to prevent it from happening again." (swe/har)