JP/Wendra Ajistyatama

The mood was generally joyful over the past week as Muslims and the rest of the nation enjoyed the post-Ramadhan Idul Fitri holiday.

Some of the millions of holidaymakers have already made their way back to town and started work again on Wednesday '€” in compliance with the six-day national holiday set by the government '€” after spending time with their relatives and friends in their respective hometowns. But, many others took longer leave to enjoy more relaxation or travel before they resume work tomorrow (Monday).

Media reports in the past week were have followed the return flow of Idul Fitri revellers back into major Indonesian cities, particularly Jakarta. All media outlets, in particular television stations, provided regular updates of the holidaymakers'€™ return journeys, in quite often daily reports.

Pictures of motorists queuing to pay toll fees at the new Cikopo-Palimanan turnpike or people packing into train cars to travel back to Jakarta have indeed told a thousand words of an annual human exodus that is among the world'€™s largest.

The media seemed to focus on the movement of people by means of land transportation, which makes sense as most of the holiday makers traveled by land. Extra planes and vessels were deployed to carry the crowds, but even their combined capacity was still below that of land transportation.

While in most parts of the country the mood of Idul Fitri was festive, a fatal incident on the first day of Idul Fitri in Tolikara, Papua, once again cast doubt over the nation'€™s commitment to religious tolerance.

This unprecedented tension between Christian and Muslim groups in Papua broke into a riot that morning, while Muslims performed their Idul Fitri prayers. Security troops got tough with the rioters, leaving one teenager dead and 12 others of various ages wounded.

Police have now claimed responsibility for the shootings, arguing that they lost control of the angry mob and resorted to dramatic force in an effort to restore order. The police, along with the State 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 (Evangelical Church of Indonesia), demanding that local Muslims not carry out Idul Fitri prayers on July 17. The letter was apparently later withdrawn but the intentions of the Christian group seemed to remain unchanged. GIDI was running a conference nearby the musholla (small mosque) where the Idul Fitri prayers were taking place.

 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 the morning of July 17 approached the musholla, demanding that those praying there follow the requests outlined in the letter.

When things heated up, authorities, after failing to quell the tension, fired warning shots to disperse the crowd. The angered mob then started to burn nearby kiosks and the fire quickly spread and engulfed the musholla.

As part of the investigation into the Tolikara incident, the National Police have so far named two suspects.

'€œThe two suspects are from GIDI,'€ National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti said on Thursday, identifying the two by their initials, HK and JW.

The police general said the two would be charged with violating the Criminal Code for instigating a riot and engaging in vandalism.

'€œThe Tolikara Police chief tried to negotiate with [the Christian group], but they did not want to negotiate and even threw stones at people praying,'€ said Badrodin, adding that at that time the crowd of people started to swell.

Later on Thursday at the State Palace, President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo invited representatives from various religious organizations for a dialogue regarding strategies for maintaining interfaith harmony following the Tolikara incident.

The religious leaders demanded that all perpetrators, including police officers found to have violated protocol
in their handling the incident, should be brought before the courts.

Jokowi told the religious leaders that he had ordered the police to act firmly in their response '€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 better communication had been employed.

In view of the President'€™s call for an uncompromising follow up by law enforcers, the Police involved must conduct a thorough investigation into the case and be transparent with its findings. This is not the first case of such religious intolerance in this diverse country.

It is important to achieve a '€œwin-win'€ solution in the follow up. As we know from past conflicts between followers of different religious groups, a failure to expose the true results of the investigation can only lead to a repetition of the unfortunate incidents in the future.

'€” Imanuddin Razak

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