T

he National Police have named two suspects related to the recent fatal clash in Tolikara, Papua.

'€œ[The two are] from the GIDI [Evangelical Church of Indonesia],'€ National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti said at the State Palace complex, adding that the initials of the two suspects were HK and JW.

He said that the two suspects violated the Criminal Code (KUHP) for instigating a riot and engaging in vandalism.

Tensions between Christian and Muslim groups escalated into a riot in the morning of the first day of Idul Fitri, resulting in the death of a teenager and the injury of 12 others of various ages.

The police earlier claimed responsibility for the shootings, arguing that they lost control of the angry mob and applied dramatic force in an effort to normalize the situation.

The police, along with the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) and the Indonesian Military (TNI), issued a joint statement on the same day to explain the case.

The authorities said that tensions were triggered by a letter from the Tolikara chapter of the GIDI, demanding that local Muslims not carry out Idul Fitri prayers on July 17.

The letter was said to have been cancelled but it was already taken as an order by a Christian group that was running a conference nearby the musholla (small mosque) where the Idul Fitri prayers took place.

The police and TNI officers were already aware of the church'€™s proposed restrictions and had tried
to negotiate with both groups but to no avail.

A group of people on Friday morning pursued the mosque, demanding that the Muslims follow the requests outlined in the letter.

Authorities failed to quell tensions between the groups at that time and released shots to disperse the crowd.

The angered mob then started to burn nearby kiosks, and the fire then spread and engulfed the mosque.

'€œThe Tolikara Police chief tried to negotiate with [the men who asked the Muslims to cease their prayers], but they did not want to negotiate and even threw stones at the praying people,'€ said Badrodin, adding that the mass of people started to swell up in size at that time.

In responding to the Tolikara riot, national religious figures urged all Indonesians not to be provoked by the incident.

Later that day at the State Palace, President Joko '€˜'€œJokowi'€ Widodo invited representatives from various religious organizations to engage in dialogue to discuss strategies to maintain interfaith harmony following the Tolikara incident.

The religious leaders demanded that all perpetrators, including police officers found guilty of violating procedure in handling the incident, should be brought before the courts.

In his speech during the meeting with religious leaders, Jokowi said that he ordered the police to act firmly in enforcing the law '€œso that everyone, regardless of religion, is equal before the law'€.

The President also reminded everyone of the importance of maintaining interfaith communication, saying that the Tolikara incident could have been avoided if good communication had existed.

'€œBut it'€™s never too late. I believe that [having good communication] is what we want to continue to do, so that existing small frictions can be resolved,'€ he said.

'€œWe do hope that it [the Tolikara incident] will serve as a lesson that we are indeed a pluralistic society,'€ Jokowi added. (ind)