Jubilee Campaign, October 31, 2005
Christian Girls Attacked, Three Beheaded by Muslim Extremists
Note: Scroll over pictures to see captions.
We at Jubilee Campaign were shocked to learn this weekend of
another atrocity committed against members of the Christian
community in Indonesia. On Saturday morning, four teenage
girls were attacked on their way to school in Poso on the island
of Sulawesi. Three of them were beheaded, while the fourth
escaped with serious slashes to her face. She is now
hospitalized under heavy guard.
Sources differ on the identities and ages of the victims--some
claim they were 14- and 15-year-old junior high school students; other news outlets
report different names and say the girls were high school students aged sixteen to
nineteen. The sources agree, however, that the four were attacked by masked men
wielding machetes while on their way to a school run by the Central Sulawesi
Christian Church in Poso. The headless bodies were found around 7:30 Saturday
morning; by 9:00am, one of the girls' heads had been found near a church some eight
miles from the bodies, while the other two were found near a police station in another
area.
Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono held an emergency meeting with
members of his cabinet upon hearing about the murders, and issued a statement
condemning "this barbarous killing," regardless of the identity or motives of the
perpetrators.
Saturday's killings were
only the latest in a series
of violent incidents in the
troubled region of Central
Sulawesi. Sectarian
violence between
Muslims and Christians
killed more than 2,000
people over a three-year
period in the late 1990s. Even after a ceasefire was declared in 2002, Christians in the
area have been subject to attacks, the burning of churches and villages and the
assassination of community leaders. In May 2005, a bombing in the market of the
village of Tentena killed more than 22. Muslim extremist groups have claimed
responsibility for most of the attacks, and few doubt that some such group was
behind the murder of the three girls.
Please join us in praying for the families of the three murdered girls, for the
beleaguered Christian community of Central Sulawesi and all of Indonesian society.
Pray that the government and criminal justice system would uphold the law, that the
murderers would be brought to justice and that peace would become the norm instead
of the exception.
Click on the following links to see reports on the beheadings in the Indonesian press
and a commentary from a Christian observer, Ibrahim B.
Story in Jakarta Post
Story from Reuters wire service
Commentary by Ibrahim B., IndonesiaWatch
Three school girls beheaded near Poso
by Ruslan Sangadji and Muninggar Sri Saraswati
The Jakarta Post, Poso/Jakarta
Tension and grief remained heavy in the air in Central Sulawesi's town of Poso as
three female students from a Christian high school were beheaded Saturday morning
by six unidentified assailants.
The incident occurred as Muslims prepare to celebrate Idul Fitri in a town that is still
struggling to recover fully from two years of Christian-Muslim battles.
President Susilo
Bambang
Yudhoyono
immediately
held an
emergency
security meeting
with Vice
President Jusuf
Kalla, top
security officials and ministers to assess the situation in Poso.
"In the holy month of Ramadhan, we are again shocked by a sadistic crime in Poso
that has now claimed the lives of three school students," he told reporters. "I
condemn this barbarous killing, whoever the perpetrators are and whatever their
motives."
He ordered the security forces to find the killers and maintain order in the region.
National police spokesman Aryanto Budiharjo said up to six men in black clothes and
masks attacked the students in Bukit Bambu village as they were on their way to
class at the Central Sulawesi Christian Church (GKST) high school in Poso.
"The perpetrators wore black attire and veils and they used machetes," he told
reporters.
The police said that the information was obtained from a survivor in the incident, who
managed to escape the attack but suffered wounds to her face.
The victims were identified as Yarni Sambue (15) Interesia Morangke (16) and Alfita
Paulina (19). The survivor has been identified as Noviana Malewa, who is currently in
intensive care at a nearby hospital.
The bodies of the girls were left at the site of the attack near a cocoa plantation. The
heads were found at separate locations two hours later by residents, said Adj. Comr.
Rais Adam, the Central Sulawesi Police spokesman.
One of the heads was found near a church.
As word of the heinous murders got around, Poso became deserted.
National Police Chief Gen. Sutanto flew to Poso on Saturday to hold a dialog with the
local administration and religious leaders in a bid to help maintain order in the area.
Some 400 policemen were also deployed to reinforce security in the religiously divided
city.
Susilo has also ordered Poso officials to calm people down to prevent a repeat of the
wanton violence that ended in 2002.
Soon after the news of the decapitations spread, dozens of residents from nearby
Tentena gathered to protest outside the district police headquarters.
Central Sulawesi was hit by a bloody sectarian war from 2000 to 2002 that killed
around 1,000 people.
The conflict ended in early 2002 following a truce, which was mediated by a
government team led by Kalla.
However, sporadic bomb attacks and assassinations continue to occur in several
areas of the province. In May, bombs exploded at a market in the neighboring coastal
town of Tentena, killing 22 people.
Police said the Tentena bombings were the work of militants with possible links to
Jamaah Islamiyah.
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Three Indonesian students beheaded - police
by Tomi Soetjipto and Telly Nathalia
Reuters
Sat Oct 29, 4:41 AM ET
Three teenage Christian women were beheaded on Saturday by two assailants
wearing helmets in eastern Indonesia as they walked to school near the Muslim town
of Poso, officials said.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono condemned the killings, which he described
as "sadist and inhuman crimes," and called an emergency security meeting with his
vice-president, as well as military officials and police.
Two men on a motorcycle and armed with machetes attacked the 16-year-old
students on the eastern island of Sulawese, a police official in Poso told Reuters.
"The men slashed and chopped off their heads. One of the students managed to
escape and jumped into the bushes in a ravine and the assailants stopped chasing
her," said the official who declined to be identified.
Poso, 1,500 km (900 miles) northeast of Jakarta, is in an area where three years of
Muslim-Christian clashes have killed 2,000 people until a peace deal was agreed in
late 2001.
Although religious fighting has largely subsided, tension is still running high in the
region following bombings in the neighboring Christian town of Tentena which killed 22
people in May.
Security experts have said local Islamic radicals may have been responsible for the
bombings in Tentena but police said they had no information on who was responsible
for Saturday's attacks.
The official Antara news agency said police were searching the area but so far no one
had been detained.
Police said the student who escaped said the attackers wore helmets and carried a
two-way radio.
The three headless bodies of the high school students, dressed in brown uniforms,
were left at the site of the attack. Three heads were found at separate locations two
hours later by residents.
"One was found about 100 metres away from a church," said police.
The wounded student was treated for cuts to her face at a local hospital.
About 85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million people are Muslim. But in some eastern
parts, Christian and Muslim populations are about equal.
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Three Teenage Girls Beheaded in Terror Campaign Against Central Sulawesi
Christians
by Ibrahim B.
IndonesiaWatch
(POSO -- Saturday, October 29, 2005) -- In an ongoing terror campaign against the
Christians of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, three young teenage girls were sadistically
beheaded this morning by Muslims determined to exterminate the Christian
community in this region.
Since Christmas 1998 the Christians of Central Sulawesi have been subjected to
numerous attacks, Christian villages burned down, many churches destroyed,
Christian leaders, pastors and community leaders assassinated.
This past year a lady pastor was executed while preaching in the city of Palu, the
Chief Prosecutor was gunned down on the way home from church, a village chief was
kidnapped and murdered, farmers were killed by snipers, a bus was bombed, the
Tentena market was bombed killing 24 and now three young girls have been
beheaded.
This is not the first time Christian children have been specifically targeted for
assassination by the Muslim community. In August 2003, six children were shot at
from a passing motorcycle in front of the Poso Presbyterian Church (GKI). Two were
hit but fortunately both survived. In Duma, Halmahera, on June 19, 2000, 45 children
were among 211 massacred in the Evangelical Church (GMIH). Some were just
babies not even 2 years old. Cicilia was 18 months; Fina was 23 months. One young
girl, Elva, was killed on her fifth birthday. How long do we have to live with this
murderous brutality in a country the world says is a picture of moderate Islam? If this
is moderate, what is radical?
Today, several young girls had just completed a Girl Guides Camp (Pramuka) and
were on their way to school at 7.00 am. They never arrived. They were walking through
a cacao plantation on the way to school when a group of men with murderous
intentions attacked them. Three were caught and beheaded. They were all girls in
Junior High School. Theresia Murangke (14), Ida Lambuaga (15) and Alfina Yarni
Sambue (15).
The attack took place among the cacao trees just 1 mile from the village of Sayo at
the intersection with the road to Buyumboyo. Police spokesman, Rais Adam,
confirmed the discovery of the headless bodies at 7.30 am this morning. At 9.00 am,
one of their heads was found in front of the Pentecostal Church (GPdI) in the village of
Kasiguncu, 8 miles, from where the bodies were found. Then the remaining two heads
were found soon afterward near the police station at Kilo 9 (5 miles from Poso).
When they were attacked, one young girl, Noviana Malewa (14), escaped from her
would be assassins with severe machete slash wounds to her face and is being
treated, under heavy guard, at the Poso General Hospital.
Upon hearing this news at the Halim Perdanakusuma Airforce Airport in Jakarta, the
President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, condemned this sadistic attack and
immediately called a Cabinet meeting at the airport. As a result the Indonesian Chief
of Police, General Sutanto and the Deputy Head of the Indonesian Intelligence
Agency, Mr. As'ad, were immediately dispatched to Poso. The President also called
upon the security forces to hunt down the perpetrators of this heinous crime and to
process them according to the laws
of the land.
But honestly, how many times have we heard this rhetoric and nothing happens! The
people of Poso have suffered many brutal attacks but haven't the perpetrators been
arrested and punished? No! Where are the leaders of the attacks against the
Christians of Christmas 1998, the attacks of Easter 2000, the assassination of the
Christian mediator, Mr. Lateka, seeking to bring peace to Poso, the assassination of
the Treasurer of the Presbyterian Synod (GKST), Rev. Tadjoja, the assassination of
Rev. Susanti while preaching in Palu, the assassination of Chief Justice Silalahi, the
bombing of the Omega bus, the bombing of the Antariksa bus, the slaying of many
Christians and burning down of over 20 Christian villages, the bombing of the Tentena
market that killed 24 Christians etc., etc.
We are forever hearing that the perpetrators will be hunted down, but where are they?
Why are they not found? The flags are flying at half mast as the District of Poso
mourns the lost in another savage tragedy.
Three Christians were accused of retaliating in 2000 and leading attacks against the
perpetrators of this violence. They turned themselves in believing they were only
defending the community against brutal attacks. Attacks in which the police and the
military did nothing to prevent. The Christians had begged for Government intervention,
begged the police and
military and the police to protect them, only to be told that they had not been given
orders to act. So some of the Christians decided to protect themselves and their
families and to resist.
When the three men, Tibo, Dominggus and Marinus, heard of the charges against
them they surrendered themselves. They believed that they would be found not guilty,
but everyday during their trial, hundreds of chanting Muslims shouted their venom at
the court and the accused and threatened more violence if they were not convicted
and executed. The court duly convicted them and sentenced them to death. Is this
the justice that we in Indonesia are to accept? How long must we suffer this tyrannical
treatment? Must we wait until there is no voice left to cry for help?
When the current Vice President, Jusuf Kalla, was still a Cabinet Minister, in 2002, he
came to Tentena in the District of Poso by helicopter with the then National Chief of
Police, Da'i Bakhtiar. The community gathered to hear these national leaders. Just
that week five Christian villages had been attacked and pillaged. Many houses were
burned down and a number of Christians slain. The community was anxious to hear
what these national leaders would say to them. Would there finally be a resolution?
No!
Shock! Horror! They stood up and told the people they should be thankful for the great
job the Government was doing and for the protection they were providing for the
people. This was a public relations disaster! Many in the crowd were refugees who
just that week had fled the jihad attacks, had their houses burned down and had loved
ones killed. They booed the visitors until Rev. Damanik stood up and took the
microphone and explained to Mr. Jusuf Kalla and Mr. Da'i Bakhtiar why the people
were booing them. Rev. Damanik challenged them to be real. Arrest the perpetrators
of these violent attacks, he charged, and then the people would believe that they were
serious.
Two days later, while another Christian village, Mayumba, was under attack, Rev.
Damanik went with vehicles to pick up the fleeing Christians and bring them to safety
but the police were waiting and Rev. Damanik was arrested and spent the next couple
of years in prison.
Where is justice? Why must the people of Poso continue to suffer like this? Why
must innocent children, young, defenseless girls, like what happened today, be
beheaded in the name of Allah?
When will the world wake up to what is happening? We are living in a world so full of
lies and deception that people would rather believe a lie, be oblivious to the truth and
just hope that it will just go away.
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email: jubilee@jubileecampaign.org
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