The Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK) has stopped providing security to victims of a mob attack driven by religious intolerance in Sampang, Madura, which claimed the lives of two people.
Teguh Soedarsono, a member of the agency, said in a press conference on Tuesday that the duty of protecting the victims had been transferred to the East Java government.
"The East Java government has taken over the responsibility and told the Political and National Unity Office [Kesbangpol] that the case is taken over fully by the East Java government and Sampang district government," Teguh said.
The East Java government has guaranteed that the witnesses and victims of Sampang case would still be protected. Teguh added that local police officers will be deployed to prevent further conflicts between the minority Shia and the mainstream Sunni Muslims.
The witnesses and victims, who for months have been living as refugees at the Sampang Wijaya Kusuma sport stadium, will be relocated to their own homes, reportedly by the end of the month. They have rejected the East Java government's earlier plan to move them to low-cost apartments in a different village.
Teguh said that the other reason why the agency decided to stop the protection is because the legal proceeding on the case had ended. The Surabaya District Court recently acquitted Nahdlatul Ulama figure Rois Al-Hukama of all charges. He had been accused of provoking a mob to attack the Shia community. The court argued that no witnesses directly saw the Sunni leader participate in the deadly anti-Shiite rampage.
A mob of 500 Sunni Muslims rampaged through a village in Sampang's Omben subdistrict last year on Aug. 26, hacking one Shiite Muslim to death and setting fire to more than 30 homes. The brutal attack drove the beleaguered Shiite community from their homes.
Those who remained in the region, or refused to convert to Sunni Islam, were forced to live in spartan conditions in the sports complex. Few, including several lawmakers with the House of Representatives, have offered to extend aid to the displaced community.
The LPSK had protected 40 four witnesses and victims shortly after the attack in August 2012. They were taken to a safe house and given food and daily provisions.