LAKSAMANA.Net, June 7, 2004 11:44 PM
Churches Attacked Outside Jakarta
Laksamana.Net - Mobs of unidentified young men have attacked at least two
churches on Jakarta's southwestern outskirts, injuring a minister who tried to stop
them, reports said Monday (7/6/04).
The incidents took place during Sunday services in Pamulang and Ciputat, Banten
province. The Media Indonesia daily four churches were damaged in the attacks but
other reports said only two were hit.
Police suspect the attacks were carried out by about 50 young men from the
industrial municipality of Tangerang, west of Jakarta. The vandals reportedly smashed
pews, windows cupboards and sound systems.
"The attacks happened at shops that had been turned into churches. We have a
report that one priest suffered wounds in the attack," National Police spokesman
Inspector General Paiman was quoted as saying by Reuters.
"We are looking into whether these churches had permits and whether this was
[provoked] by locals displeased with them," he added.
According to Media Indonesia the attacks took place at two locations, one of them
being a commercial building with three shops that had been converted turned into
churches.
The report said the churches at Pamulang were attacked within 30 minutes of the
attack at Ciputat.
Over recent years, most church attacks in Indonesia have taken place in the Maluku
islands and Central Sulawesi amid communal fighting between Christians and
Muslims.
Attacks on churches in Java were more common during the final years of the regime
of former president Suharto, who was forced to resign in 1998.
In late 1996, mobs destroyed several churches in the West Java cities of Situbondo
and Tasikmalaya. In January 1997, at least three churches and two Chinese temples
were attacked in Rengasdengklok, also in West Java.
In September 1997, four churches were torched in the South Sulawesi capital of
Makassar, which was then called Ujungpandang.
While some of the attacks were allegedly masterminded to incite unrest ahead of the
1997 general election, most of the incidents were fueled by anti-Chinese sentiments,
as many poor Muslims resented Indonesia's ethnic Chinese for their financial acumen
and believed they controlled the economy.
These days little has changed, although many needy Indonesians now regard
government corruption as the main cause of the nation's high poverty level.
On Christmas Eve 2000, a wave of bombings at churches and houses of ministers
across the country left 19 people dead. Police have blamed the attacks on regional
terrorism network Jemaah Islamiyah.
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