Jakarta – Indonesia's military chief, echoing the leader of the country's most influential Islamic movement, said conflicts among the country's political elite were behind more than 150 murders in East Java, a report said Monday.
"I agree when it is said that this is because of a conflict between the political elite. There are certain political interests which want to make use of the current difficult situation for their aims," General Wiranto said according to the Kompas daily. Wiranto, speaking in a meeting between authorities in East Java and local civic and religious leaders in Banyuwangi, a town in the eastern tip of Java, said the conflict had caused suffering for the people.
Abdurrahman Wahid, who heads the country's some 30-million-strong Nahdlatul Ulama Islamic (NU) movement, Saturday said his group already knew the "puppetmaster" behind the wave of killings, but mentioned no name. Wahid, who is better known as Gus Dur, said the motive of the attacks "is to incite NU members. They want to create national instability, thereby disrupting plans to hold general elections in 1999."
Most of the attacks have been directed at suspected warlocks but prominent local NU members have also been targetted and Gus Dur said the murders were done "neatly and in a very organised way," with professionals sent from Jakarta to either carry out or organise the killings.
"ABRI (the Indonesian armed forces) promises it will try to unveil who is the mastermind behind all these problems," Wiranto said. "ABRI is certain of its current capabilities and will certainly find those behind all these problems," he added.
However, he declined to speculate on the rumors that personalities close to President B.J. Habibie were behind the violence saying "I do not want to send the country toward disintegration.
Speculation in East Java about the killings has also fingered the military, or members of the nation's second largest Moslem movement Muhammadiyah. But the military and the police, who have been criticised for being unable to stop the killings, have denied involvement.
Wiranto also said he expected the trials of those caught for murders to begin before the end of this month. Police have already arrested at least 125 people following the murders, reports have said.
The tension that has gripped several districts in East Java following the killings has spread to provincial capital Surabaya, the Jakarta Post daily said. On Sunday, thousands of members of an NU task force were deployed to guard Moslem preachers in and around Surabaya, the daily said.
Killings of suspected warlocks have since also spread to West and Central Java. On Sunday, hundreds of people in Banjarnegara, Central Java, attacked the house of a man suspected of practicing black magic. The house was damaged but the man escaped, the daily said.
Habibie who took over from former president Suharto after the latter resigned amid rising public pressure on May 21, has pledged wide ranging reforms that include fresh elections for May 1999.
Gus Dur said Saturday the violence was intended "to maintain the status quo" by causing splits among Indonesian Moslem movements (NU and Muhammadiyah) ahead of the elections.
But, popular socio-political observer and talkshow host Wimar Witular was quoted by Kompas daily as saying the East Java killings was also part of ploy to divert attention from the issue of corruption and collusion against former president Suharto.
The wealth of Suharto is currently being investigated by a government team to see whether any had come from corruption, collution and nepotism.
The murders have raised both domestic and international concern, including from visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific Stanley Roth who took up the subject during his meeting with Habibie on Friday.