Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has formed a team to help members of the Sampang Shia community, violently evicted from their homes.
Presidential advisor on human rights Albert Hasibuan delivered the promise when he met members of the community, who rode bicycles all the way from Surabaya, East Java to Jakarta, as a protest against the eviction.
The protesters had expected to meet the President himself. The Shiites insist that they be allowed to return home instead of being relocated to Sidoarjo, East Java.
"The President has formed a team led by the Coordinating Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Minister [Djoko Suyanto] to settle this issue," Albert said after the meeting, but gave no guarantee of help for the Shia community.
In the statement, the presidential advisor also expressed his concerns over the difficulties the Shia followers had been facing.
Albert criticized Sampang Regency and East Java Province for failing to settle the problems. His team issued recommendations, but no response has been forthcoming from the local government.
"The forced relocation of the Sampang Shiites, in my opinion, is inhumane and unwise," Albert added. "It is a false interpretation of the values of tolerance promoted by President Yudhoyono."
The 10 cyclists represent about 165 displaced Shiites who sheltered at the Sampang sports hall for 10 months, following a clash with the Sunni community.
The government argued that the policy was for their own safety because locals would harass them if they return to their original village.
The cyclists were disappointed with their failure to meet Yudhoyono and that their two-week journey had come to naught.
"We are not demanding much. We just want to meet the President to kindly ask him to protect us and our constitutional rights as Indonesian citizens," Muhammad Rosyid, one of the cyclists, said.
Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Coordinator Haris Azhar, who joined the Shiites in the meeting, said that he had asked Albert to meet with the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) given the indication that the forced eviction could be seen as a human rights violation.
"This is the time for the President and his aides to take firm action because the Shiites have lost trust in local administrations," he said.
Eviction of the Sampang Shiites is one of numerous cases of religious intolerance which have tarnished the reputation of Yudhoyono's administration.
Other cases included the forced church closure and intimidation of the HKBP Filadelfia congregation in Bekasi despite a court ruling in their favor, the forced closure of the GKI Yasmin church by the Bogor city administration despite a Supreme Court ruling in favor of its congregation, and the recent attack at an Ahmadiyah village in Tasikmalaya, also in West Java.