Ezra Sihite – A deputy speaker of the House of Representatives has backed a widely criticized call by the police chief and religious affairs minister for a beleaguered Shiite community in East Java to be relocated to prevent future attacks against it.
Priyo Budi Santoso, the deputy speaker from the Golkar Party, said on Monday that moving the community of around 400 people from the village of Karanggayam in Madura Island's Sampang district was a sensible response in light of the hostility faced by the group.
"A relocation would be the way out, for now," he said. "Once the situation has calmed down, they can return and reintegrate into society."
The Shiites were attacked on Aug. 26 by a mob of about 500 Sunni Muslims. Many of their homes were burned down, in a nearly-identical attack to one on Dec. 29 last year.
Two Shiites were killed in last month's incident while dozens were injured, including seven who remain in critical condition. The minority community has since been forced to take refuge at a sports stadium, where about 400 men, women and children remain.
The police have been criticized for failing to prevent the attack despite knowing about it in advance, as well as for dismissing the incident as a family feud rather than a case of sectarian violence.
Public anger flared up last week when National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo and Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali, speaking in separate hearings before the House, proposed relocating the victims to another area as "the easiest way out" of the problem.
Officials and rights activists alike lashed out at the call, blasting it as unfair to the victims and an indication of the state's "laziness" in addressing the issue at the heart of the violence.
Priyo said he recently discussed the issue with East Java Governor Soekarwo, who insisted that the violence there was the result of a family feud boiling over and not a sectarian conflict.
"Let's get it straight. There is no conflict between Sunnis and Shiites, or between NU and Shiites," he said, referring to Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Islamic organization. "It's really not as bad as people are making it out to be."
He also criticized Mafhud M.D., the highly regarded chief justice of the Constitutional Court, for causing unjustified worry after the jurist warned on Sunday that moving the Shiites from their home village would be unconstitutional.
"Maybe he was only speaking in the purely academic context, but that kind of talk weighs on people's feelings," Priyo said. "The relocation would only be temporary and is the best option when you consider the prevailing sense of unease. Therefore I call on the government to make the best decision."