In mostly Muslim Indonesia, new accusations of intolerance

By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times, October 15, 2006

DENPASAR, Indonesia -- Maringan Simanjuntak wipes his brow in Bali's equatorial heat and talks in measured words about the fear and frustration of being Christian in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Last month, Indonesia executed three Christians for inciting a mob that killed scores of Muslims six years ago in central Sulawesi Province. The executions led to widespread Christian violence across the area, where religious tensions have simmered for years.

Now Simanjuntak and the rest of the nation anxiously await another execution. This time, three Islamic militants face death by firing squad for their roles in the 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people in a crowded Denpasar tourist bar.

The 46-year-old tour guide wants an eye for an eye. But he doesn't expect to see the Bali bombers die: The Muslim-led government, he insists, takes care of its own.

``This country is a Muslim majority, and Christians are not offered the same protections under the laws," Simanjuntak said .

The executions have fueled new accusations of religious intolerance in this sprawling archipelago nation in which 180 million of its 220 million residents are Muslim, compared with 20 million Christians.

Many believe judges at the Christians' trial bowed to pressure from hard-line Muslims to send the three farm laborers to their deaths.

``They were not just scapegoats; they were the `offering,' " said a lawyer for the three, who goes by the single name Brodus. ``This is discrimination."

Despite government denials, many believe the timing of the Christian executions is linked to the fate of the three Bali bombers, who sit on Indonesia's death row.

``I miss my father. But what can we do?" said Robert Tibo, a son of Fabianus, 60, who was one of those executed in Sulawesi. ``We cannot fight the government. But it seemed officials were trying to pave the way for the Bali bombers' execution. They wanted to make it even between my father and the other Christians and the Muslims."

Ill will still lingers in Sulawesi after the Muslim-Christian violence that swept the province between 1998 and 2002. Bombings, beheadings, and machete attacks killed more than 1,000 people from both religious communities before the violence was brought to an end by an uneasy peace accord.

``For many Christians, there is a question of balance," Sidney Jones, senior project director for International Crisis Group, a private think tank, said of the government's prosecutions. Muslims charged in Sulawesi were given at most 15-year prison sentences, she said.

The result, Jones said, is that ``there is this strong sense among non-Muslim minorities that they may not have a place in Indonesia."

Even in Bali, described by Travel & Leisure magazine as ``the world's best island," Indonesia's religious violence has left its lethal mark.

October usually means tourism, but the palm-shaded beachside bars and hotels are mostly empty.

Bali's two terrorist attacks -- the 2002 bombing and suicide blasts last year that killed 20 people -- both occurred in October.

Law enforcement officials here now refer to the month as ``trouble season" and warn that another attack by Islamic extremists could incite violence with Bali's 3 million Hindus, who outnumber Christians and Muslims here.

At Kuta Beach, a granite-relief monument stands at the site of the 2002 bombing. The memorial bears the names of the 220 victims who died in the attack.

Many Indonesians say the fear of sectarian violence has only come in recent years. For three decades, former dictator Suharto kept the nation's religious and ethnic rivalries in check. But after his fall in 1998, distrust boiled over in Sulawesi, where Muslims and Christians live in roughly even numbers.

Unrest broke out in the city of Poso after a rumor among Christians spread that Muslims had tried to ban alcohol consumption. The conflict soon spread to the countryside as Muslim and Christian mobs armed with homemade guns, spears, and machetes waged attacks that included the beheadings of three schoolgirls.

Eventually, militants from both sides were brought to trial.

The Christians, known as the ``Poso three," were found guilty of several attacks, including a machete and gun assault on an Islamic school that left at least 70 dead.

Many Christians still seethe over the events leading up to the Sept. 22 executions. The men's final wishes -- from sending a last message to the president to having their relatives and spiritual advisers accompany them to the execution site -- were rejected by Indonesian officials.

Shortly after 1 a.m., the three were led to airport grounds near their Sulawesi prison and shot. The bodies of two men were sent home for burial.

But the third man, Dominggus da Silva, was interred in a nearby cemetery, without what the family considered a proper ritual. A day later, Silva's corpse was exhumed by a mob of angry Christians.

``They found the body, they cleaned it up, and they sent it home," Brodus said.

Then a procession led by Silva's family delivered the empty casket and the dead man's burial suit to nearby government offices, dumping both outside when officials did not emerge to claim them.

``The family did not want to receive anything from the government," Brodus said. ``They gave everything back."

After the execution, Christian violence erupted in Sulawesi: A mob torched a police station and hurled rocks at a police helicopter. Twenty men wearing black masks blocked a road in Poso, forcing five passengers from a bus and stabbing one.

Bali has so far been spared violence, but emotions still run high.

In the meantime, Maringan Simanjuntak waits for Indonesia's next round of executions. He says the 2002 Bali bombers have confessed to their crimes and say they want to die.

"So I say, `Give them their wish,' " he said. ``They stole the last breaths of 220 people. They deserve to be punished. They deserve to die."