T

he Ansor Youth Movement (GP Ansor), a youth wing of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), has prepared 2.6 million of its members to help secure Christmas celebrations across the archipelago, an executive of the movement has said.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post in Cirebon, West Java, on Wednesday, GP Ansor deputy secretary-general H.M. Nuruzzaman said that the organization was ready to help secure Christmas celebrations as part of maintaining harmonious and pluralist values in the country.

“This is our way of showing our commitment to making sure that those values are well preserved within the milieu of differences in unity,” Nuruzzaman said.

He said a total of 2.6 million out of the organization’s 7 million members had been prepared for the deployment, 25,000 of whom would be deployed in Cirebon and the surrounding regions to guard churches during Christmas celebrations.

There are 22 churches in Cirebon municipality and 12 others in the neighboring Cirebon regency to guard. “We have coordinated with the local police for the purpose,” he said.

The 2.6 million members, according to Nuruzzaman, are those who joined the organization’s Banser auxiliary trained force and have undergone physical training for multipurpose activities including religious and social ones. “Any religious community, not only Christians, can also ask for our security help,” he said.

The same security help, according to Nuruzzaman, was also often provided to other Muslim organizations such as Muhammadiyah, especially at times when the country’s two biggest Muslim organizations (NU and Muhammadiyah) chose different dates for observing either Idul Fitri or Idul Adha celebrations.

Separately in Medan, North Sumatra, there has been a reported increase in armed robberies ahead of the Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations. The latest happened on Wednesday morning as four armed intruders robbed the house of a businessman on Jl. Veteran.

No fatalities were reported in the incident that took place at 6:30 a.m. but the robbers tied up and injured some people in the house. They took a safe-deposit box containing Rp 11 million (US$1,210) in cash, jewelry and other valuable documents worth hundreds of millions of rupiah.

The businessman, named as San Saw or alternatively A San, told police that the four robbers put on masks as they entered his house through an open door.

East Medan Police Precinct chief Comr. Patar Silalahi said that based on the way the robbery was conducted the perpetrators could be an experienced gang who had changed their operating hours from night to daytime. “We’re still investigating the case to confirm this,” he said

Meanwhile, Medan City Police chief Sr. Comr. Tagam Sinaga promised to arrest the robbers as soon as possible so as to restore residents’ sense of security. He said a number of police personnel had been assigned to sites considered prone to crime such as housing complexes and shopping centers.

“We have also prepared personnel to guard churches to provide security to worshipers during Christmas celebrations,” he said.