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Editorial: New Year in Singkil
One man killed and a church set on fire is too much
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ne man killed and a church set on fire is too much. On Wednesday, coincidentally the Islamic New Year or Muharram, the Coordinating Political, Legal, & Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan and National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti left for Aceh Singkil regency where a mob had set fire to a church and clashed with police.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla hoped the cause of the rioting, which also left several wounded on Tuesday ' 'likely a misunderstanding' ' would be settled. President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo ordered Luhut and Badrodin to ensure the anarchy would not spread. Police have detained 20 persons including those claiming to be members of the Aceh Singkil Youth Concerned for Islam (PPI).
The government, one scholar said, 'must race against time', as Badrodin warned residents against being provoked by the circulation of text messages, which usually exacerbate such situations. Hundreds of families have fled to Medan, a few hours' drive away.
Badrodin was quoted as saying the incident might have been planned, given the assembly of weapons such as swords and Molotov cocktails, as well as vehicles. If police intelligence had got wind of the actions earlier, as Badrodin is reported to have said, the loss of life and sense of insecurity in the attack's aftermath is all the more regrettable.
The Indonesian Council of Churches (PGI) 'regretted' the incident caused by 'intolerant groups' who took the law into their own hands, against one of over 20 churches that lacked permits. An agreement between the minority Christians and the local administration on Oct. 12 stipulates that 10 churches would be demolished by next week. But locals said the participants in the meeting did not represent them.
Whatever 'misunderstanding' occurred, everyone knows we are still far from resolving many other similar situations.
Among national leaders only Jakarta Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama has had the courage to state that one underlying cause of such incidents is the 'discriminatory' ministerial regulation on building houses of worship.
The 2006 regulation by the Religious Affairs Ministry and the Home Ministry states that at least 90 signatures are required to secure permits to build a house of worship.
Minority religious communities have long protested the rule, saying it violates the constitutional freedom of worship. Some Muslims argue that they face the same difficulties in securing the minimum requirement to build mosques where they are in the minority ' and insist the regulation should stay to avoid a deterioration in inter-faith relations.
As long as we fail to understand what it takes to live in a diverse society these incidents will keep on recurring. The Singkil incident erupted from tension that had been brewing since at least 2010, when the regent formally asked for government clarification on the status of some 20 churches.
The regulation, as many have noted, has too often served to justify mob actions in closing down the churches and mosques of minority faiths ' regardless of whether the motives are really religious or intertwined with other matters.
Failure to resolve 'freedom of worship' issues will lead to more outbursts of 'intolerance' ' today's polite, vague description of such mob violence ' caused by factors such as the inability to accept others, the 'aggressiveness' of 'other' neighbors, political manipulation ' or all three combined.
