The Jakarta Post, September 23, 2006
Why should they fear the (angry) masses?
George J. Aditjondro, Jakarta
"This is the largest deployment of troops in the history of Central Sulawesi." So a
police commander in Palu told me, in the wake of the execution of Fabianus Tibo,
Marinus Riwu, and Dominggus da Silva last night. Nearly 5,000 police personnel have
been stationed in Palu, the capital of the province, in the troublesome district of Poso,
and neighboring Morowali, where the three farmers from Flores, East Nusa Tenggara,
had migrated to work at the oil palm estates, to find a better life.
Fearful that their executions would trigger mass protests, the authorities did not want
to release their bodies to their families to be buried with proper Catholic rituals. A
requiem mass, which Bishop of Manado Yosephus Suwatan was going to celebrate,
was prohibited by the authorities.
According to plans, by daybreak, a Skytrack plane chartered by the police flew the
remains of Tibo and Riwu to Beteleme, their home subdistrict since arriving as
transmigrants in Central Sulawesi, to be buried in the home villages of their respective
wives, native Mori women.
Meanwhile, the parents of da Silva, who have been waiting and grieving for their son for
the last five weeks (the executions were originally set for Aug. 12), are now in further
agony. Fearful of the reaction of the angry masses in Flores, the authorities have
rejected da Silva's last request to be buried in Flores, burying him instead in an
unknown place in or around Palu.
Rejecting a dying man's last wishes, even if he has been labeled a criminal by society
or the state, is quite unacceptable in Indonesian society. What is even more
unacceptable is to prohibit last rites for Indonesian citizens, including those who have
been on death row.
So why are the Indonesian authorities so fearful of the people, the masses, that all
these security precautions have been taken to bury the bodies of these three Flores
farmers, allowing only the minimum presence of their relatives? And, in the case of da
Silva, without any of his relatives from Flores?
The big question then is, why fear the masses? Even the angry masses, if the
authorities have not done any wrong to the three simple migrant farmers from Flores?
The fact it that from the very time of their detention and trial, the fate of the trio had
already been sealed as scapegoats for the social unrest in the Poso region in Central
Sulawesi.
Although a double minority, both ethnic and religious, in Poso, they have been
accused of masterminding a communal conflict, and especially a so-called attack on
a Muslim religious school, nine kilometers south of the town of Poso. Yes, they had
been sentenced to death by a court in Palu in April 2001, where the judges had to
pass their sentence under the threatening eyes of thousands of refugees, hungry for
revenge: eye for an eye, three lives for the hundreds lost.
Further research by myself and colleagues at the Tanah Merdeka Foundation has
cast serious doubts on the fairness and truth of the accusations against the Flores
trio. Even the previous police commander of Central Sulawesi, (Pol) Brig. Gen.
Oegroseno doubted the decision of the Palu lower court, which was endorsed by the
Central Sulawesi high court and Supreme Court.
Thus, he tacitly rebelled against Jakarta's decision to execute the trio, by being
absent from the provincial capital on Aug. 12, 2006. A daring stance to take, which
cost him his position since soon after that he was demoted to a position at police
headquarters in Jakarta.
The ordinary people in Central Sulawesi and in the trio's home province, however,
cannot grasp the logic of capital punishment for Tibo, Riwu, and da Silva. How could
these three simple farmers, whose presence in the town of Poso was simply to
protect their children in the Catholic school in Poso from attacks by angry riots, could
at the same time be the masterminds and executors of the "attack" on the Walisongo
pesantren at Km 9?
Yes, I emphasize the word "attack", since during the initial years of the Poso unrest
from late 1998 till late 2000 (with a year of calm in 1999), two religious communities
were attacking each other. So, how could three persons from one community, who
were not even from the dominant ethnic group and denomination, be single-handedly
"chosen" to be the masterminds of the riots at that time?
This is why many people in the Poso and Morowali districts in Central Sulawesi, and
many more people in Flores and West Timor in East Nusa Tenggara, cannot accept
the executions of the three farmers. As far as the educated elite in Central Sulawesi,
East Nusa Tenggara and in Java are concerned, there is a bigger problem at stake.
The executions of Tibo and his two colleagues is seen simply as an attempt by the
regime of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla to cover up the real persons
and institutions who should be held accountable for the ongoing unrest in Central
Sulawesi, where violence from Poso spread to Morowali and even to the provincial
capital, Palu. So, while Tibo and his colleagues were sitting in Palu prison for more
than five years, violence had been continuing in the province, escalating in scale and
method.
History will judge SBY and Kalla for neglecting their sworn duty to protect the safety
and well-being of the people of the Poso region, who included Tibo, Riwu, and da
Silva. They know this and that is why they fear the angry masses in Poso and Flores
and hide behind the thousands of police persons and hundreds of military men, where
ebony thieves are the only main local villains.
The writer is a research and publication consultant to Yayasan Tanah Merdeka in
Palu. He has conducted research on the background of the unrest in Poso for the last
four years.
All contents copyright © of The Jakarta Post.
|
