The mystery must be solved
The mystery must be solved
What on earth is going on in Banyuwangi? Although this
question still begs to be answered, the facts seem simple enough.
Official police reports say that more than 100 people have been
mysteriously murdered to date by death squads of masked men
prowling the countryside at night in this far corner of East
Java. But although all the murder victims appear to have been
local Moslem religious teachers and leaders, the authorities seem
to be as much in the dark as the area's residents as to the
motive for the killings.
Oddly enough, even though police reports speculate that those
being targeted are "black magic" practitioners, many of the
victims were in reality religious leaders affiliated to the mass-
based traditional Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).
Rather unusually, the national media did not start reporting on
the murders until after scores of victims had already fallen.
Given the identity and social position of most of those
killed, it is really not at all surprising that officials
initially cast their suspicion on remnants of the now outlawed
communist movement. After all, hundreds or even thousands of
communists and suspected communists were killed in the area in
the aftermath of the 1965 communist coup attempt by either
military or civilian death squads. What could be simpler than to
assume that the present spate of murders are revenge killings
committed by descendants of those killed?
Such a conjecture, however, has been dismissed by Abdurrahman
Wahid, the highly respected leader of the Nahdlatul Ulama
organization in Jakarta. He has argued that any surviving
communists would be too old and frail to conduct or even organize
such a killing spree, while their descendants are of a new
generation of Indonesians to whom communism is an alien ideology.
Amid public bewilderment over the case, the official line the
authorities are for now adopting seems to be that the killings
are "purely criminal" in nature. But while this may be to a
certain degree reassuring -- the absence of political motives
should reduce the possibility of political repercussions -- it
still begs the main question: What actually is going on in
Banyuwangi?
In the meantime, new victims continue to fall. During
Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, four more people were
killed in their respective homes in three separate districts in
the area, their mutilated bodies dumped in their yards. Two other
people in a neighboring district managed to escape murder
attempts because they were forewarned by neighbors. Cases of
similar killings are meanwhile being reported from other
districts in the area.
Not surprisingly, all this has caused considerable fear and
apprehension among the area's residents. The killings are also
raising fears in other parts of the country of unwanted
consequences for the nation, especially if suspicions of
political motives prove to be correct. The National Commission on
Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and other independent aid organizations
have criticized the government for having been slow to react. The
killings, after all, reportedly began as early as July, only to
escalate in recent weeks and months.
Fortunately, government leaders and legislators have of late
begun to display a greater sense of urgency in trying to end the
killings and solve the mystery. Fact-finding teams are being
dispatched to the area, possible victims are being sheltered and
suspects are being held and questioned. Providing adequate
protection to the area's local residents is a most commendable
first step to take in this complex mystery drama.
It is of no less importance, however, that the mystery be
solved and revealed to the public -- honestly and transparently
-- so that any mutual suspicions that may exist among the people
of the area may be dispelled.