Economic pressures in Indonesia church attacks

JAKARTA, Oct 13 (Reuter) - Economic pressures and religious rivalries appear to be behind a recent spate of church burnings on mainly-Moslem Indonesia's most populous island of Java, religious scholars said on Sunday.

The issue was spotlighted last week when a crowd of up to 3,000 moslems rampaged in the East Java town of Situbondo, burning five people to death inside one church.

Police said they destroyed nine other churches, as well as schools, a convent, shops and a court house.

The incident followed the burning of a hall used by Roman Catholics for worship in East Jakarta last month and the destruction of 10 churches during Sunday services in Indonesia's second city of Surabaya in June.

"All the incidents are isolated events that all have their local reasons, but I think it is true that tension in society is growing," said Franz Magnis-Suseno, a German-born Indonesian and rector of Jakarta's Driyarkara School of Philosophy.

"It seems it gets easier and easier to come to a point where when something happens there is a greater readiness for violence," the Jesuit priest told Reuters.

Muchtor Buchori, polticial analyst and former rector of a Moslem university in Jakarta, said the extremes of both Islam and Christianity in Indonesia had a real antagonism, but there were many links between the moderate majority of the community.

"You have to know precisely which group of people is doing the attack (before you know why)," he told Reuters.

Church sources say all the most recent attacks appear to be organised or inspired by unidentified people. But police have refused to comment on allegations that certain extremist groups had mastermined the disturbances.

Political analysts said economic jealousy was a significant factor since many of the economically-powerful Chinese who dominate the economy through the sprawling archipelago are Christian.

On troubled East Timor, the reverse was true, however. Religious disturbances there last year were apparently provoked by the influx of moslem traders dominating the local markets at the expense of the mainly-Christian local population.

Most attacks on churches go unreported in the Indonesian media and police seize film from anybody who knowingly takes a picture of a destroyed church. However, American-based Indonesian Christians have posted pictures of the burned churches on the Internet.

The reporting of the Situbondo incident was limited to a sparse official account by State Secretary Murdiono and East Java Governor Basofi Sudarman saying the "disturbance" was provoked by a crowd unhappy with a blasphemy trial.

Buchori described the practice as an "ostrich policy." "You act as if nothing happened rather than try and promote religious tolerance," he said.

Magnis-Suseno agreed the political system was too closed. "Tensions that have always been there get more intensive and there is much suspicion on all sides and it is very difficult to talk about some issues openly," he said.

"It is not easy to let steam out and this is reflected in this growing readiness for violent incidents," he added.

Munawir Sjadzali, former religous affairs minister and chairman of the official National Commission on Human Rights, said relations between Moslems and Christians were "excellent."

Moslems make up 85 percent of Indonesia's nearly 200 million people, and Christians around 10 percent. The state ideology promotes religious tolerance and recognises five religions -- Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism and Buddhism.


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