Four Injured in Attack on Pesantren in East Java

Surabaya. At least four people were injured in an attack on Tuesday at an Islamic boarding school, or pesantren, in the Kenep village of Beji in Pasuruan, East Java, by a group of unidentified people.

Dozens of demonstrators in gloves and wearing Islamic robes attacked the Alma’hadul Islam boarding school with stones at about 2 p.m., according to local police.

They also vandalized the gates of the school as well as the school’s security post. Those injured were identified as Muhammad Baragba, 19, Muhammad Ali Reza, 15, Abdul Qodir, 15, and Migdad Alhadar, 17.

Dedy Prihambudi, former head of the Surabaya Legal Aid Foundation, said that according to information he had received, the attack was triggered by a prayer meeting in the Purwosasi region of Pasuruan.

“It is not clear what was said at that prayer meeting. But shortly after that, there was a sort of a convoy. And then they headed to this Pesantren [Alma’Hadul Islam] and attacked,” Dedy said.

The attack, according to one source, was conducted against the school because it allegedly housed sympathizers of Shiite Islam.
Sunni Islam, followed by Indonesian Muslims, is the world’s largest branch of the religion.

Another source denied that the attack was about Sunnis and Shiites, but about infighting between Arab communities in Pasuruan.

Dedy said previous minor attacks had occurred in 2006 and 2007 over the Shiite and Sunni matter in Pasuruan, but none had culminated in such an attack.

(x Jak Globe)

Pesantren Attack Was ‘Just a Brawl’

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Dessy Sagita, Amir Tejo & Camelia Pasandaran | February 16, 2011


The religious affairs minister and the police said on Wednesday that an attack on an East Java Islamic boarding school was not the latest example of religious violence in the country, but rather a particularly nasty student brawl.

Suryadharma Ali, the religious affairs minister who has been heavily criticized for failing to stop a string of recent attacks on churches and a minority Islamic sect, said Tuesday’s incident in East Java was sparked by students taunting each other.

“It was just a student brawl,” he said, while urging the police to speed up their investigation into the incident to set the public at ease.

At least four people were injured in the attack on the boarding school, or pesantren , in Kenep village, Beji subdistrict in Pasuruan, East Java. Dozens of people wearing gloves and Islamic robes attacked the school, Al Ma’hadul Islam, with stones.

East Java Police Chief Insp. Gen. Badrodin Haiti also insisted on Wednesday that the incident was a criminal act related to personal grievances. He said it was unrelated to recent religious attacks on the Ahmadiyah community in Cikeusik, Banten, or the damage done to churches in Temanggung, Central Java.

He did not, however, dismiss the possibility that further investigations could result in a link being established. Badrodin was speaking after an emergency meeting to calm tensions following Tuesday’s violence.

Local police officers and military commanders met with Al Ma’hadul Islam staff members and officials from Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Islamic organization in the country, on Wednesday.

With Indonesia under the spotlight following a spate of religious attacks in the last two weeks, the police have stepped up efforts to address incidents more forcefully.

Police identified the four people injured on Tuesday as Muhammad Baragba, 19; Muhammad Ali Reza, 15; Abdul Qodir, 15; and Migdad Alhadar, 17.

Badrodin said four suspects, identified only by their initials, were being questioned by the Pasuruan Police. It is known that three of the suspects are in their 20s and residents of Bangil subdistrict. A fifth person was questioned by police but later released due to insufficient evidence.

Badrodin said the suspects traded insults with people from the Islamic school as they passed the building on their way home from a prayer service. He said the suspects are believed to have acted on their own, with no indications that the violence was manufactured by a third party.

An anonymous source had previously told the Jakarta Globe that the attack was carried out by Sunni Muslims who believed the school was harboring Shiite followers of Islam. Sunni Islam, followed by most Indonesian Muslims, is the world’s largest denomination of the faith.

Legal expert Hendardi, from the Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy, criticized Suryadharma, the religious affairs minister, for rushing to declare the violence a student brawl, saying it could undermine the police investigation.

“The police are still investigating the case and there has been no definite conclusion yet,” Hendardi said. “The minister has no right to make such a strong statement.”

He said that given the recent attacks on Ahmadiyah members in Cikeusik and on churches in Temanggung, there was a possibility that Tuesday’s incident was another example of religious conflict.

“The first step the government can take to stop this rampant violence is to fire Suryadharma Ali,” he said.

Hendardi said the biggest contribution the Religious Affairs Ministry could make at this point was to minimize escalating tensions, and issue a firm statement warning that violence of any kind against any religious minority would not be tolerated by the authorities.

(also x the Jak Globe)