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Govt must take neutral stance in N.Sumatra violence: Lawmaker
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The Tri Ratna vihara and several other Buddhist houses of worship were attacked in Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, on July 29. (Antara/Anton)
H
ouse of Representatives member Eva Kusuma Sundari has said the government must remain neutral in resolving violence that broke out in Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, on Friday evening.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician said further that the North Sumatra Police should investigate parties suspected of spreading hatred and attacks on several Buddhist vihara (temples) and pagodas in Tanjung Balai.
“The state of Indonesia must take a neutral stance in every religion-related violence case. Whoever the victims, including minority ethnic Chinese who are mostly Buddhist and Confucianism followers, must be helped to rebuild their houses of worship and lives,” said Eva as quoted by kompas.com.
(Read also : Vihara, pagodas burned down, plundered in N. Sumatra)
The deputy coordinator of a group of lawmakers calling themselves the Pancasila Caucus further said: “Whoever the perpetrators of the violence done in the name of religion must be arrested and brought to justice.”
As reported earlier, a mob burned down and plundered several vihara and pagodas in Tanjung Balai on Friday evening. The violence broke out after a Chinese-Indonesian woman complained about the volume of a speaker at Al Maksum Mosque, located in her neighborhood.
Eva said that in 2015, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, in his capacity as chairman of the Indonesian Mosque Council (DMI), asked mosques across the country to turn down the volume of their loudspeakers.
The council, she further said, had trained 700 technicians, supported by 100 technical vehicles, to help service mosque loudspeakers. (ebf)
