Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – The West Java Indonesian Ulema Council issued an informal edict Thursday, declaring that a hunger strike by Ciseeng residents as haram, forbidden according to Islam.
The hunger strikers, who the council assumes are followers of Islam, are up in arms over high-voltage lines near their village.
The MUI's provincial chairman, Hafidz Ustman, said that under Islam, it is haram to inflict harm on oneself and encouraged the protesters, who have sewn their mouths shut since the strike began 10 days ago, to let the law sort out the problem.
"This is a call, not an fatwa. It is (the residents' rights) to demand something, but not by sacrificing themselves. The strike does not only harm themselves, but also their relatives," Hafidz told journalists in Bandung on Thursday.
Five Ciseeng residents, along with a handful of other people from the province, have been protesting in Jakarta since late December, demanding state electricity company to give them 10 times more money in compensation than the company has agreed to give them.
Thursday's informal edict, made following a consultation meeting between the council and PLN three days ago, was the second time in recent months that the council had come out in favor of the electricity company in the dispute with residents.
In September 2005, the council in Cianjur issued an edict telling residents that paying electricity is a must. The edict was issued after the electricity company ran out of ideas to make the Cianjur residents pay their late bills.
The residents, who earlier declined to pay the bills to protest the transmission line crossing their land, finally bent to the cleric's pressure and paid the bills.
Hafidz said that the transmission line's victims in Ciseeng should obey the law in the case, which has been simmering for almost 10 years and now has a lot of people's attention.
"All government officials, including the President, know (about the case). Islam doesn't advocate violence in solving problem. Hunger strikes, as mentioned in a part of the Koran, is an act of violence," he said.
Meanwhile, the general manager of the Java-Banten center for electricity distribution for PLN, Murtaqi Syamsudin, said his office, apart from requesting a solution to the Ciseeng problem, has also reported an alleged sabotage plan by several protesters in the Waled area in Cirebon, West Java.
"They're threatening to cut down a grid tower, an important installation. If the residents go ahead with their threat, it will cause blackouts for tens of millions of electricity consumers," Murtaqi said.
Those involved in the sabotage, he said, could be charged with violating article 406 and 408 of the Criminal Code and might face up to four years in prison under Law No. 15/2003 on terrorism.