Cultural Diversity and Social Customs

jakartapost - Villagers fight off police to protect Poso suspect.

May 11, 2006 ◊ The National Police appealed Wednesday to villagers in Lawangan to give up a man accused of masterminding the 2005 beheadings of three Christian schoolgirls in Poso, Central Sulawesi.

"How can we do an investigation if the citizens prevent us from doing our job," National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said.

Anton said a suspect, Taufik Badahu, was being protected by people in his village of Lawangan, who attacked police officers trying to capture him on Monday and Tuesday.

He said when two members of the police counterterror squad visited Taufik's house Monday to arrest him, several local residents called for help and banged on power poles to alert their neighbors.

Around 100 people ran out of their houses and attacked the two policemen, injuring one of them, Anton said. During the incident, the locals also burned the policemen's two motorcycles.

On Tuesday, a team of officers led by Poso Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Rudy Sufahriadi visited Lawangan village on a second attempt to arrest Taufik. This time, local residents threw rocks at their cars and the team retreated.

Anton said Tuesday's statement by National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Makbul Padmanegara that police had arrested Taufik was incorrect. Taufik along with another suspect, Hasanuddin, are alleged to have masterminded the beheadings of the three girls and the 2004 murder of Helmi Tobiling, the wife of a soldier.

Police arrested Hasanuddin in Palu on Monday.

The police said a total of six men, including Hasanuddin, had been arrested for their alleged roles in the two separate incidents.

Anton said the police planned to use persuasion rather than force to capture Taufik. However, he said police would take action against all the villagers who had attacked officers doing their duty.

"We hope that citizens will not be provoked by irresponsible people wanting to take advantage of the situation," he said.

compass - Islamic militants confess to beheading three girls.

May 12, 2006 ◊ Police in Indonesia announced Wednesday (May 10) that suspected Islamic terrorists have confessed to beheading three Indonesian schoolgirls in Poso, on the island of Sulawesi, in October 2005.

Five of the suspected terrorists were arrested on May 5 in Tolitoli regency, Central Sulawesi. The Jakarta Post identified them as Apriyantono, alias Irwan; Arman, alias Haris; Asrudin, Nano and Abdul Muis (some Indonesians use only a single name).

"Two of the arrested men were involved in the murders," national police spokesman Brig. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam told reporters. "Another was detained for carrying ammunition, while the other two were arrested as accessories to the crimes."

Two additional suspects have not yet been publicly identified.

An Associated Press (AP) report initially said two of the seven suspects were associates of Noordin Top, a key leader of the homegrown terrorist group, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). Alam, however, has since insisted that, "it's certain they weren't involved with Noordin."

Alam said the suspects would be taken to national police headquarters in Jakarta for further interrogation.

AP reported on Wednesday (May 10) that all seven men had confessed to playing a role in the beheadings of the three Christian teenagers on October 29, 2005.

The men attacked four girls -- Theresia Morangke, 15, Alfita Poliwo, 17, Yarni Sambue, 15, and Noviana Malewa, 15 -- early in the morning as they walked to a Christian school in Poso district. The first three girls were beheaded; Malewa received serious injuries to her face and neck but survived the attack.

Malewa later described the attackers as six men wearing black shirts and masks, and said one of the men carried a two-way radio.

The girls' heads were wrapped in black plastic bags; one was left on the steps of a church in nearby Kasiguncu village, and the other two near a police station five miles from Poso town. The bags contained a note stating in part, "We will murder 100 more Christian teenagers and their heads will be presented as presents."

The men are also suspects in other violent attacks on Christians, including the murder of the Rev. Susianty Tinulele, 26, who was shot at the Effatah Church in Palu, Central Sulawesi, on July 18, 2004 by a gunman who entered the church wearing a mask. Four teenagers sitting outside the church were also injured in the attack.

A Series of Brutal Attacks

Two more schoolgirls -- Siti Nuraini and her friend Ivon Maganti, both 17 -- were shot in the face on November 8. Nuraini died from her wounds but Maganti survived the attack. (See Compass Direct, "Two More Schoolgirls Critically Injured in Poso, Indonesia," November 9, 2005.)

Machete-wielding assailants also attacked three young people, killing one of them, on November 18; and a Christian couple were shot and seriously wounded on November 19. (See Compass Direct, "Weekend Shooting, Machete Attacks Stun Christians in Indonesia," November 21, 2005.)

A bombing in the predominantly Christian village of Tentena in May 2005 left 22 dead and at least 74 injured.

Another bomb exploded on New Year's Eve (December 31, 2005) at a predominantly Christian area market in Palu, Central Sulawesi, killing eight people and injuring 56.

Over 1,000 people were killed in bloody sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians in Central Sulawesi between 2000 and 2001. The Malino Declaration (also known as Malino I), signed in December 2001, stemmed the worst violence, but sporadic bombings and attacks, mostly targeting the Christian community, have continued.

Police suspect JI involvement; several terrorist training camps exist in the jungles of Sulawesi, and at least one ex-trainee has admitted being trained to attack Christians.

xinhua - Masked gunmen attack Christian radio station in Kenya.

May 13, 2006 ◊ Four hooded men raided a Christian radio station in Kenyan capital Nairobi on Friday night, shooting dead a night guard and a station worker, injuring some others and leaving the studio partly burnt from a petrol bomb, workers said on Saturday.

The workers said the Hope FM, run by the Nairobi Pentecostal Church was attacked at about 10.30 p.m. (1930 GMT), soon after a program that discusses Christianity and Islam had been aired.

The program's presenter Damian Moses who was in the studio during the attack escaped with a bullet grazing his finger after he fought off one of the attackers before the hooded men hurled firebombs into the studio.

"One of the gun men asked me if I was a presenter and when I answered he pulled out his gun and I pounced on him, engaging him a fight until this gun dropped and I managed to escape," said Moses.

"He was pointing a pistol at my head and when he cocked I knew I had to fight for my life. I deflected his hand just as he pressed the trigger. I then kicked him, he fell down and I ran back inside shouting. The station technician sensed danger and switched off the lights," said Moses.

The radio presenter said the attackers followed him inside but could not trace them with the lights off. "They then went to the main studio and switched us off air," he added.

Area police boss John Ngare said a handgun and eight spent rounds of ammunition have been recovered from the scene.

Ngare said no arrests had been made and the motive for the attack was not yet clear, saying investigations were underway to apprehend the attackers.

The station's reception area has been badly damaged with burnt furniture strewn all over.

However, the fire did not get to the main studio, said Hope FM operations Director, Jemimah Muturi, adding that the attack occurred shortly after the end of the station's Swahili evangelical program.

The raid knocked the 24 hour station off air for over nine hours but the station, which was switched off last night, is now back on air.