Jeremy Wagstaff, Jakarta – Mobs in mainly Christian eastern Indonesia went on the rampage Monday, burning mosques and attacking Muslim shops, schools and a university. It was one of the worst attacks on the country's majority religion in years and is certain to fan divisions in a nation already gripped by political and social unrest.
Witnesses and residents said at least six mosques in the West Timor city of Kupang were attacked – and some destroyed – when violence erupted at what local students and church leaders had planned as a peaceful commemoration of church burnings in Jakarta on Nov. 22. Residents reported truckloads of youths arriving in the town center, throwing stones at Muslim shops, stalls and mosques. "Nobody knew how it started but suddenly the main mosque was on fire," said one witness. A car, several businesses and a Muslim dormitory were also burned.
The unrest, which continued late into Monday evening, couldn't come at a worse time for President B.J. Habibie. Since troops and police shot more than a dozen demonstrators on the streets of Jakarta's business district two weeks ago, his administration has been trying to quell public outrage and growing lawlessness. A senior official said ministers, trying to restore public confidence, had agreed Monday to boost the police force from 220,000 to 260,000 in the next three months. "There's a general recognition the security apparatus is overstretched," he said.
Broader link?
Beyond the breakdown in law and order is another problem that many Indonesians believe lies at the heart of recent unrest: the possibility that the disturbances are being orchestrated. While Monday's incident easily taps into existing communal tensions, officials in Jakarta, academics – and witnesses to the violence itself – suspect such events may be part of a wider turf war between local or national elites.
One element of the factional jockeying in Jakarta is pressure on Mr. Habibie to investigate his predecessor and mentor Suharto. Mr. Suharto's lawyer was quoted by Indonesian newspapers Monday as warning Mr. Habibie that any attempt to bring his client to court could drag down the government. "Indonesians are being played against each other. It's typical of the New Order regime" of Mr. Suharto, said Muhamad Sobary, a political analyst at Indonesia's Institute of Sciences. Whatever the roots of the violence, Monday's commemoration had been intended by its organizers as moderate and peaceful, culminating in a mass Tuesday on the grounds of Kupang Stadium. Planned by students and church leaders for the past week, the event had even been supported by the local government to allow people to reflect on the burning of five churches in Jakarta eight days earlier. In that incident, Muslim mobs in a Jakarta neighborhood took revenge for an apparent attack by mainly Christian vigilantes on a community mosque by burning an entertainment center and several nearby churches. Several people were killed, either burned to death or lynched.
What began in Kupang as an almost carnival-like atmosphere quickly degenerated into a religious clash of its own as young people rampaged through the city. Residents said they were surprised by the low level of security provided by the military. "They have to come past our house to get to the town and we counted only two trucks all day," said Pastor Itja Frans, adding, "It did not seem much considering the situation."
By late evening, said residents, three mosques had been burned in Kupang itself and three outside the town. They said communities had sealed off streets and residents were asked to stay inside, in part for fear that young men from outside the area would seek to foment unrest in the neighborhoods. "Our people were not taught to do this. This is a new phenomenon," said Mr. Frans.
Rising tensions
Still, others said the explosion of violence wasn't altogether surprising. Residents said an influx of Muslim immigrants from overcrowded pockets of Indonesia into the eastern islands has raised communal tensions with the Protestant and Catholic majority, sparking unrest such as that in 1995, when Christian mobs ran riot in Maumere on the island of Flores. "The whole place is primed for that because of the influx of outsiders," said a consultant who regularly visits eastern Indonesia.
More worrying though, is a possible backlash in Jakarta and elsewhere on Java – home to 70% of Indonesia's 206 million people, 90% of them Muslim. News of the riots in Kupang wasn't widely broadcast Monday, but religious leaders said they feared it would inflame already simmering passions.
"The Kupang case will surely escalate into something that may be beyond our control," said Salahuddin Wahid of the Muslim-based Kebangkitan Umat political party. Others, such as Eggy Sudjana of the usually vocal Islamic Labor Brotherhood, said he would "try to cool" tempers in his workers' group. "I'm worried Muslims will take more revenge for this," he said.
[On December 1, AFP reported that around 100 people attacked the Bethel church in Banjarsari, West Java, in retaliation for the attacks in Kupang. Sergeant Major Ude of the sub-district police told AFP by telephone that the attack began at about 1am and lasted for around an hour but that "There was no casualties and the church did not suffer heavy damage". Meanwhile on December 3 the state news agence Antara reported that a mosque was burned down and two vandalised in Ngabang, near the West Kalimantan capital of Pontianak. It did not say when the attacks took place but quoted local security officials as saying that a man, a newcomer to the area and believed to be mentally disturbed, had been arrested - James Balowski.]