Indonesia: Laskar Jihad Leader Acquitted; Christians Sentenced

One Indonesian court acquitted Laskar Jihad leader, Jaffar Umar Thalib, last Friday on charges of inciting Muslims to attack Christians, while two Christian separatist leaders were each sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.

The different verdicts show the apparent disparity in justice between Muslims and Christians in Indonesian courts and society.

Mr. Thalib was head of the Laskar Jihad that boasted 10,000 followers, including some 3000 fighters who terrorized the Maluku provinces and Central Sulawesi in the last three years. He was arrested after making a speech to 5000 Muslims in front of the Al-Fatah Mosque in Ambon on April 26 in which he said, “From today, we will no longer talk about reconciliation. Our…focus now must be preparing for war–ready your guns, spears and daggers.”

Before dawn that Sunday black-masked, heavily armed Islamic militants entered the town of Soya, less than three miles east of Ambon city. They went from house to house killing Christians while they slept, stabbing to death up to 21 persons (including a 6-month-old baby), decapitating some, and burning others alive. The attack destroyed 30 homes and a Christian church. Moreover, the Christians had already surrendered their arms to authorities in accordance with the Malino Peace Accord. Many Christians felt Thalib’s speech had encouraged the violence. He was arrested on May 4 on his way back to Jakarta.

The two Christians, Alex Manuputty (55) and Samuel Waileruny (45), who were sentenced to three years in prison, had merely encouraged compatriots to raise the flag of a banned separatist movement with barely 100 followers.

In the wake of these two imbalanced judgments, Christian peace activist Rev. Renaldy Damanik went on trial Monday on the charges similar to those Thalib faced. He was accused of carrying weapons in the back of a car and of instigating violent attacks [against Christian communities!] in Central Sulawesi this past August.

Damanik’s record is far different from Thalib’s. He is the secretary-general of the Christian Synod in Central Sulawesi and operates the Sulawesi Crisis Center there. Known for dissuading Christians from reacting in kind to violent attacks by Muslims, he is the much-loved and respected leader of the Christian community.

In Damanik’s case, police stopped a car in which he was riding and asked him to stand aside while they searched it. He did and only the next day did he learn the police reportedly found guns in the car. Damanik was enticed to Jakarta, where he presumed he was being asked to testify as a witness and where he was suddenly arrested and jailed. He was later transferred to the jail in Palu where he received poisoned food while in police custody.

Police claimed Monday they found homemade rifles and bullets in Damanik’s car and the two cars accompanying him. Damanik denies ownership of the guns and claims they were planted by the police. After Monday’s hearing, the trial was adjourned until February 10 when the defense will present its case.

Please pray that true justice will prevail and that this man of God will be spared an unrighteous judgment. This story was written with the help of reports from Elizabeth Kendall of World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission http://www.WorldEvangelical.org/rlc.html and International Christian Concern http://www.persecution.org. Stories providing the history of the violence in the Moluccas in which up to 10,000 lives have been lost and over 500,000 persons displaced from their homes can be found in back issues of Missions Insider at the Christian Aid Website http://www.christianaid.org.

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