CNS News, December 11, 2003
Indonesian Christians Once Again Living in Fear
By Patrick Goodenough, CNSNews.com Pacific Rim Bureau Chief
Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - As Christmas approaches, Christians in
Indonesia's Sulawesi province are worried that despite an influx of troops and police,
the deteriorating security situation of the last two months may worsen.
Christian campaigners working in the area say many are too scared to live normal
lives, afraid to tend, harvest or market their crops for fear of attack by Muslim
extremists.
A spate of violence against Christians since October has raised fears of a return to
two deadly years of fighting in 1999-2000, which left 1,000 dead in the province. The
conflict ended with a Muslim-Christian peace accord in 2001.
Government officials have hinted that members of the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group
Jemaah Islamiah (JI) may be linked to the renewed attacks in Sulawesi, which lies
about 1,600 kilometers northeast of Jakarta.
The trouble began with a couple of apparently isolated incidents - a bomb was
discovered in a church shortly before a Sunday morning service in late September,
and a Christian convert from Islam was gunned down by two men on a motorcycle
several days later.
When the situation deteriorated sharply, it happened over a weekend when most
outside attention was fixed on another Indonesian island 1,000 kilometers to the
south-west, Bali.
The weekend of Oct.12 was the first anniversary of the deadly bombing of nightclubs
on Bali, carried out by JI.
Even as memorial services were being held on Bali and elsewhere for the 202 victims,
in Sulawesi 13 Christians were killed in attacks by groups of masked men, armed
with guns and machetes. Almost 40 homes were torched, a church was gutted, and
200 people were left homeless.
Since then, a number of other attacks have occurred, according to reports by police
and campaign organizations like International Christian Concern and International
Friends of Compassion.
Last month, the treasurer of a church was bludgeoned to death in his car and his
young nephew was almost decapitated by a fatal blow with a machete or knife. The
same day, another Christian was pulled off his motorcycle and beaten to death by a
Muslim mob.
Gunmen on a motorcycle fired into a church on Nov. 29, killing two Christians in front
of their families. On the same evening, armed men raided a mostly Christian village
and killed two Hindus; most of the Christians were away, attending a prayer meeting.
Further shootings last Monday and Friday left other Christians injured. Several bombs
have also exploded, including one in front of a church in the town of Poso.
According to the Barnabas Fund, a charity organization working among Christians
living in Islamic countries, there is a concerted campaign in Poso to target Christians.
It said leaflets being circulated in mosques called on local Muslims to "join the waiting
force with your finances, your soul and even your lives," adding, "we will carry out
mass attacks to cause shock and kill Christian leaders."
JI links?
The authorities sent in extra troops and policemen this week, and at least 22 people
have been arrested in connection with the killings. Police also shot dead six suspects
who resisted arrest.
Despite these signs that officials are taking the matter seriously, some Christians
believe members of the armed forces are colluding with terrorists or manipulating
events to justify a clampdown.
In some of the attacks, gunmen used weapons usually only available to soldiers.
The Barnabas Fund said terrorists were "well armed with the latest military equipment
suggesting assistance from members of the Indonesian military."
Christians also suspected that local police heads were collaborating with militant
insurgents, it said.
Similar concerns were raised during the last period of violence in Sulawesi, as well as
in a concurrent Muslim-Christian conflict in another province, Maluku.
In both the Sulawesi and Maluku conflicts, Christians blamed an extremist Islamic
group called Laskar Jihad for much of the bloodshed.
Laskar Jihad, which said its presence was necessary to protect Muslims from
Christian militias, announced it was disbanding last year.
In recent days, Indonesian security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said there
has been evidence of "the involvement of foreign terrorist groups" in Poso.
He did not elaborate, but last month police officials said some senior members of JI
were suspected to be hiding out in Poso.
They include a man named Dulmatin, whom police suspect was involved in both the
Bali bombings and a bomb blast at the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta last August.
National police chief General Da'i Bachtiar said in November that some Marriott
bombing suspects under arrest confessed knowing those involved in the Poso killings
the previous month.
Police have suggested that the JI members may have carried out the killings in
October to destabilize Indonesia and stir up militants, according to a report on an
Indonesian online news portal, Laksamana.
All original CNSNews.com material, copyright 1998-2003 Cybercast News
Service.
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