The Jakarta Post, July 21, 2004
Bomb scare mars burial of minister
The Jakarta Post, Palu/Jakarta
A bomb scare at the funeral of Reverend Susianti Tinulele in East Palu, Central
Sulawesi, on Tuesday panicked Christians at the same church where the
clergywoman was shot dead two days earlier.
Effata Church secretary Anwar said he received a call at about 3:55 p.m. from a man
who threatened to bomb the place of worship in the next 10 minutes.
The threat was made when hundreds of worshipers were gathered at the church for a
service to farewell Susianti before her body was buried at the Talise cemetery.
Police evacuated the church and searched the area for suspects and bombs. They
found nothing.
Palu Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Noman Siswandi said he believed the bomb threat
was a hoax aimed at disrupting Susianti's burial.
The same day, pedestrian Sudisman Medinta, 38, was shot in the leg by gunmen at
Mapane village in Poso Pesisir district, a hotspot for tensions.
Sudisman, who had suffered serious blood loss, was taken to hospital shortly after
the 4.40 p.m. shooting, Poso Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Abdi Darma said.
Two days after the attack on Susianti, police announced on Tuesday they had
deployed 700 paramilitary Police Mobile Brigade officers to guard all churches and
mosques in Palu.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Paiman said police had also sent a group of
detectives and intelligence officers to help in the hunt for the attackers.
Paiman said officers had blocked entry and exit roads to Palu and had set up
checkpoints to prevent the suspects from fleeing.
A police sketch artist had been dispatched to the city to make pictures of the
attackers, which would be distributed across the province, he said.
"We have questioned several witnesses, including security guards at the church, over
the death of the clergywoman," he said.
Susianti was gunned down while giving a sermon at the Effata Church. Four other
parishioners were wounded, with one remaining in hospital in a critical condition.
Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Taufik Ridha said the killers were believed to
be different gunmen from those who shot dead prosecutor Ferry Silalahi in March.
While they were likely to have come from the same organization, the latest gunmen
fitted the description of those who attacked the Pentecostal Church in Maranda,
Poso, in March, he said.
Taufik said police officers had investigated several places believed to the gunmen's
hideouts.
Central Sulawesi Police spokesman Adj. Comr. Victor D Batara said Susianti's killers
were still believed to be in Palu. He said he had received a short text message from
an unknown cell phone number threatening to launch further attacks.
The Sunday incident was the latest in a series of recent attacks on Christian targets
in the province, which officials and religious leaders said were aimed at provoking
renewed violence between Christian and Muslims. About 2,000 people died in Poso in
sectarian fighting between 2000 and 2001.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Communion of Churches chairman Nathan Setiabudi said he
believed the attacks did not have religious motives. He called on all Christians to
renounce revenge.
"We just want the culprits arrested as soon as possible," he said after meeting with
President Megawati Soekarnoputri in Jakarta.
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