Cybercast News Service, Friday, January 31, 2003
International
Christians Decry Acquittal Of Indonesian Jihad Leader
By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com Pacific Rim Bureau Chief
Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - Christian rights activists Friday slammed an
Indonesian court's decision to acquit one of the country's most controversial Islamic
militants on charges of inciting violence against Christians.
They said the move showed that the government of the world's largest Islamic nation
wasn't prepared to act seriously against anti-Christian violence.
Supporters of Jafar Abu Thalib, the leader of the reportedly disbanded Laskar Jihad
group, cheered Thursday as an East Jakarta court ruled cleared him of that charge
and two others -- inciting hatred against the government and defaming its leaders.
"The defendant has been proven not guilty and must freed of all charges," presiding
judge Mansyur Nasution was quoted as telling the hearing, saying Jafar had the right
to freedom of speech.
The charges arose out of a speech Jafar gave last April in Ambon, the capital of the
Maluku islands - a province wracked by Muslim-Christian violence since 1999 -- in
which he condemned a small Christian separatist group.
Soon afterwards, armed militants attacked a nearby village, killing 13 Christians.
Throughout the case, critics questioned the treatment he received. His arrest itself
only came a week after the attack, following international condemnation.
During his brief period under arrest, Jafar was visited by Indonesia's vice president,
Hamzah Haz, who called the visit a show of solidarity with "a Muslim brother."
During his six-month trial, Jafar was not held in custody, and at one point last August
the court sent him away for two weeks, saying he did not look well.
Jafar faced a maximum penalty of seven years in jail, although prosecutors had only
sought a 12-month term.
Campaigners have contrasted that "kid glove" treatment with that experienced by
Christian suspects.
Earlier this week, two leaders of the fringe separatist group targeted in Jafar's speech
were sentenced to three years in jail each for campaigning for an independent state in
the Malukus.
Meanwhile, a Christian pastor in another Indonesian province that has been marred by
religious violence, Central Sulawesi, has being detained for four months on charges
his supporters say are trumped up.
The Rev. Rinaldy Damanik, who has been accused of carrying weapons and inciting
violent attacks, is described by Christian Solidarity Worldwide as "a key Christian
leader working for an end to the violence."
As head of a crisis center in the area, "he was responsible for informing the
international community of the attacks and human rights violations in the area," said
CSW.
'Prepare our guns'
Christian groups inside Indonesia and abroad accused Jafar's group, Laskar Jihad, of
shipping in fighters responsible for much of the violence in Maluku and Central
Sulawesi, where thousands of Christians and Muslims have died since 1999.
Peace agreements were signed in the two provinces about a year ago, but in the
Maluku case it was briefly shattered by the violence that followed Jafar's speech.
According to a recording of the address, Jafar was accused of telling his followers to
ignore the peace accord, and in the context of the Christian separatist campaign, to
"prepare our bombs, and ready our guns."
He was also quoted as declaring "there will be no reconciliation with non-Muslims ...
we will fight them until our last drop of blood." The alleged threats against government
leaders arose from the same speech.
Less than two days after the speech, a nearby Christian village called Soya was
attacked by masked men who shot, hacked and burned to death 13 villagers,
including a young baby. A church and scores of homes were torched.
Jafar denied any wrongdoing, and was arrested a week later. Last October, Laskar
Jihad announced it was disbanding, giving no reason.
'Another injustice'
Fr. Cornelius Bohm of the Ambon Crisis Center, a Catholic institution in the Maluku
capital, said he saw two military roadblocks there early Friday for the first time in
months.
It may be the authorities were expecting an angry response from local Christians to
news of the acquittal, the Dutch-born priest said by telephone.
But Bohm said he did not expect an adverse reaction.
"Christians here see this as just another injustice against them and they swallow it,"
he said.
In his view, the trial outcome was an indication of the influence in Indonesia of
fundamentalist Muslims.
"The government is afraid of them and gives them a little pleasure every now and then
to keep them calm," he said.
Bohm confirmed that no one had been arrested in connection with the Soya attack.
He said local Christians were so pleased to be rid of the departing Laskar Jihad, they
generally had not complained about the authorities' failure to punish the militants for
their alleged crimes.
'Lopsided'
Holly Hursh of the religious rights group International Christian Concern said it was
very troubled to hear of Jafar's acquittal.
"It seems very lopsided that Rev. Damanik can be held with absolutely no proof of his
guilt in inciting violence, when with Thalib we have even recorded radio programs
where he was calling for Muslims to take up arms - and yet he was acquitted," she
said.
"This makes absolutely no sense to us in our idea of what is just. It concerns us that
the Christian community is getting blamed while the Muslims are getting off with no
punishment whatsoever."
Hursh said the acquittal sent a signal that Jakarta was "not really serious about
punishing the true culprits of these crimes against the Christian community."
She said Maluku had been relatively quiet in recent months, but the group was
keeping a close watch on what happened next.
Of Laskar Jihad, Hursh said its members "may not regroup under that name, but it's
very likely they will join with other Islamic militant organizations with similar purposes,
of attacking Christians and Westerners.
"Even though Laskar Jihad as a group disbands that does not mean that the threat
that group posed is gone."
Ian Freestone of International Friends of Compassion, an Indonesia-focused Christian
group, said Friday Jafar's acquittal was a blow to all working for peace and
reconciliation in the country.
"Not only Christians, but many of other faiths in Indonesia would be dismayed to know
that the Laskar Jihad leader is to be released."
Pointing to the arrests of more than 20 suspects in last October's Bali bombing,
Freestone noted that in a case that received international attention the alleged
perpetrators had been quickly caught.
"But when minority groups within Indonesia are terrorized, justice seems far away."
Thousands dead
More than 80 percent of Indonesia's population is Muslim, although in the Malukus
Muslim and Christian communities are roughly equal in size.
Estimates of deaths over three years of bloodshed there range from 5,000 to twice
that number, while more than half a million people - almost one-third of the population
- fled their homes.
The tiny Christian separatist movement, the Front for the Sovereignty of Maluku
(FKM), campaigns for the southern Maluku islands to break away from Indonesia and
form a republic.
Half a century ago, a republic was proclaimed there amid the confusion of talks
leading to Indonesian independence from Dutch colonial rule. Forces of the
newly-independent Indonesia quickly overran it in a move the FKM claims was an
illegal annexation.
Christian campaigners say the campaign of the FKM, which most local churches
repudiate, has been used as a pretext for violence against the wider Maluku Christian
community.
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