Indonesia: What's behind the 'religious' riots
By James Balowski
Over the last 16 months, Indonesia's much touted "political stability" has been tested by some of the worst violence since the New Order regime seized power in 1965.
As president Suharto closed his new year address pledging more openness and democracy and calling for national tolerance and unity, security forces were "cleaning up" after yet another outbreak. The unrest started on December 30 in Sanggau Ledo, West Kalimantan when 6000 Dayaks attacked the homes of Javanese migrants. By January 6, 6886 people were reported to have fled the area. Tensions in the region remained high with more rioting and by February 4, West Malaysian authorities were so concerned that they took the unusual step of closing the boarder with Kalimantan.
With the exception of the July 27 riots in Jakarta, which followed an attack by the military on the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), the riots have been sparked off by relatively minor incidents. In Sanggau Ledo, the spark was a knife fight between local Dayaks and migrants.
On December 27, guests attending an official function in Jakarta (including Suharto) were shocked when the minister for administrative reform, T.B. Silalah said publicly that while the principle of the state ideology of Pancasila and its guarantee of religious freedom remained noble, the practice of tolerance was lacking. This was a major break from the official line that asserts all is well between the many different religious and ethnic groups of Indonesia.
The authorities normally "discourage" public discussion of conflicts related to SARA, an acronym for issues involving "tribe, religion, race and inter-group". But the large number of incidents has forced the government to acknowledge that they cannot realistically stop news reports.
On January 9, the minister of transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo was quoted as saying that the society and the civil service were "ill" and "if something is not done immediately to overcome it, it will become a danger to the nation". Despite the fact that the quote emanated from the official government news agency, state secretary Murdiono denied that the minister had used such harsh language, saying that society just suffering from "growing pains". He accused the media of fabricating quotes. Siswono was later summoned by President Suharto to "explain" his remarks.
Despite these outbursts, the regime has persisted with the view that the riots are the work of some unspecified "third party". On January 6, armed forces chief General Feisal Tanjung said that the riots were the work of unnamed "intellectual actors" who would soon be arrested. On January 16, armed forces chief for social and political affairs, Syarwan Hamid, criticised the media for "blowing up" the factors of social and economic injustice in causing the riots. Suharto claimed on January 17 that there were groups which wanted to overthrow the government, had borrowed from the theories of Mao Tse Tung and planned to "surround the cities from the villages". He said that they were using issues of social inequality, corruption, "illegal payments" (read bribes) and religion to create instability and disrupt development.
Claims that any kind of "disturbance" — particularly those that are anti-government — must be coming from some unidentified third party are starting to wear thin. Suharto accused the People's Democratic Party of being the "masterminds" behind the July 27 riots, only to have his own National Human Rights Commission report that the real cause was the attack on the PDI offices by the military.
On January 8, however, the same commission said that a third party was responsible. Speculation over the identity of this mysterious third party took another twist when Abdurrahman Wahid, head of the Islamic mass organisation Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), announced that an unidentified group had launched two operations, "Red and Green Dragon", to overthrow him and the former head of the PDI, Megawati Sukarnoputri. Although most people immediately associated "red" with the campaign colours of the PDI, the choice of "green" was less clear — being the colour of both Islam and the military. In December, Time magazine quoted unidentified sources who alleged the armed forces had organised the two "Dragon" operations.
On January 28, Wahid publicly accused the Humanika Foundation of being behind the Tasikmalaya riots, specifically naming the foundation's chairperson, Bursah Zarnubi. On a separate occasion he also accused Adi Sasono, director of the Centre for Information and Development Studies (CIDES), and Eggy Sudjana, an expert in environmental law with the centre.
CIDES was founded by the powerful Association of Islamic Intellectuals (ICMI) headed by Suharto's research and technology minister, Jusef Habibie. Sasono is secretary-general of the association. Many observers believe that ICMI was set up to increase Suharto's Islamic support base. Wahid's leadership of NU has been a major stumbling block to ICMI expanding its support in the Islamic community.
Most analysts agree that the unrest stems primarily from a widening gap between the rich and poor, and the lack of accountability of government institutions. Golkar legislator A.A. Oka Mahendra, for example, said on December 30 that "the mass violence might be the result of prevalent dissatisfaction that has found no other outlet, let alone solution, among the people. Besides, government agencies have apparently ignored phenomena that are increasingly conducive to the explosion of violence."
Others have stressed that the religious and ethnic conflicts are a symptom, and not the root cause, of the problem. Amien Rais, chair of the country's second-largest Islamic organisation, Muhammadiyah told Kompas on January 6, "the source of danger, however, is not SARA itself, but economic injustice". In an interview with Tempo Interactive on January 7, he referred to Indonesian society as being "like dry grass ready to ignite".
Ironically, the regime's tight control of virtually every political institution has meant that, for many people, religious institutions remain the only vehicle to organise and express their dissatisfaction.
The regime is ignoring the underlying social issues behind the riots. On January 17, Suharto ordered the establishment of "alert command centres" to prevent any further unrest. A bill was also tabled authorising the call-up of citizens for active duty and the requisition of civilian resources in the event of a national emergency.
Senior defence officials have denied that this has any connection with recent unrest, or with the general election due on May 29 but on February 4 the government announced that all social and political meetings involving large crowds would be banned until after the election. [James Balowski travelled in Indonesia in December and January.]