LAKSAMANA.Net, July 15, 2004 11:59 PM
Four Arrested for Church Attack
Laksamana.Net - Police have arrested four men for the fire-bombing of a Roman
Catholic church in Yogyakarta province last month, an official said Thursday (15/7/04).
Brigadier General Pranowo Dahlan, director of the National Police's anti-terror division,
said the four were arrested Wednesday at their houses in Yogyakarta's Sleman
regency.
He said they would be charged over the June 9 attack on the Santo Yusuf Church in
Sleman's Gatak village.
A molotov cocktail thrown by one of the men charred part of the church's front gate
and fence, as well as a corner of the building, but caused no injuries.
The suspects were identified as two brothers Ina Yudha (24) and Agung Widodo (26)
from Ngepring village in Sleman, Aditya Agus (18) from the same village, and Aljupri
Isnangun (age not mentioned) from nearby Ngaran village. They all lived within less
than 2 kilometers from the church.
Pranowo declined to mention the motive behind the attack, but implied the four men
had been recruited to carry out the attack.
"We are still working on this case. We haven't touched the brain behind this attack
because so far they refuse to talk," he was quoted as saying by Agence
France-Presse.
Sleman Police chief Sigit Sudarman said two of the men admitted they had
undergone training in making homemade fireworks and molotov cocktails.
"At Yudha's house we also found two spears, three swords and a bow and arrows,"
Sudarman was quoted as saying by detikcom online news portal.
He declined to say whether the four men were also behind last year's molotov cocktail
attack on Seyegan Church in Sleman.
"Be patient. Wait for the results once the investigation has been completed and
checked by officials," he told reporters.
In June, mobs of young men attacked two churches on Jakarta's southwestern
outskirts in Banten province and injured a minister who tried to stop them.
Over the past five 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,
believing they controlled the economy.
Copyright © 2000 - 2004 Laksamana.net, All Rights Reserved.
|
