The Jakarta Post, August 30, 2005
Govt wants firm action against hard-liners: Kalla
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Contradicting earlier comments by a Cabinet minister, the Vice President promised
on Monday that firm action would be taken against Muslim hard-liners who forcibly
closed down Christian places of worship as they were damaging religious harmony
and taking the law into their own hands.
"We have talked to the police. We must be firm now. If we have a problem, we must
not resort to violence in order to solve it. Instead, we must resolve it together as the
nation belongs to all of us," Vice President Jusuf Kalla told leaders of Islamic
organizations gathered at the Muhammadiyah headquarters in Central Jakarta.
Only on Saturday, Minister of Religious Affairs Maftuh Basyuni joined the police in
saying that the hard-liners would not be punished, arguing that they were only acting
against "illegal congregations".
The anti-Christian attacks continued on Saturday, with a hard-line Muslim group
calling itself the Anti-Apostasy Alliance Movement (AGAP), closing one unofficial
place of worship in Margahayu Raya. AGAP leader Muhammad Mu'min Al Mubarak
claimed that local residents had asked the group to close the prayer house as it was
unlicensed.
Also on Saturday, a mob of around 100 people shut down a Christian prayer house
located in Larangan subdistrict, Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta, demanding that its
congregation move to a church in Pesanggrahan subdistrict nearby. No violence
occurred as the clergyman agreed under pressure to the demand.
Monday's meeting between Kalla and the Muslim leaders had originally been planned
to brief them about the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the government and
the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Helsinki on Aug. 15.
According to Kalla, Indonesian people of different religious persuasions should refrain
from using violence when settling disputes.
"We must be able to exercise restraint so that this sort of thing does not happen
again. It is our responsibility to stop the violence now," he said.
Kalla mediated peace agreements to end bloodshed between Christians and Muslims
in Maluku and the Central Sulawesi regency of Poso a few years ago.
Meanwhile, Muslim figures called for interfaith talks to settle the matter.
"A dialog is necessary. But the dialog must be conducted in a give-and-take manner,"
chairman of the 30-million strong Muhammadiyah, Din Syamsuddin, said.
Din said the government had to do its part by upholding the regulations requiring
permits for the establishment of houses of worship.
"Violence is not the way. Muslim people must not be easily provoked into violence
that will only serve to destroy religious harmony," he told reporters.
According to Din, a Muslim community would not oppose the establishment of a
church as long as the necessary permits were obtained and respect shown to the
local people.
"But a problem of social ethics arises if a church is set up in an area where Muslims
are in the majority," he said.
Tarmizi Taher, the chairman of the Indonesia Tablig Council, called on the Ministry of
Religious Affairs to initiate interfaith talks to settle the issue. However, he asserted
that people must respect the joint ministerial decree that requires a Christian
congregation to secure approval from the local community before setting up a place of
worship -- something that is normally extremely difficult or impossible in practice.
Separately, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Aryanto Boedihardjo said that
police chief Gen. Sutanto had ordered local police forces to take action against
anyone who violated the law.
The police would also encourage the public to report any violations to the local police
instead of taking the law into their own hands.
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