Indonesian President must take over Shia reconciliation program

Image; Rights for all: Leader of the special investigation team tasked to probe the attack against the Shia community in Sampang, Madura, East Java, Masruchah (right) delivers her statement while a member of the team, Andy Yentrian, of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) listens. The investigation found that both the central and local government failed to coordinate their efforts in handling the eviction of the minority group. /Jerry Adiguna(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - A joint investigation team has recommended that Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono take over and directly lead a reconciliation program in the feud between Shia and Sunni Muslim communities in Sampang, Madura, East Java.Chief investigator for the team, Imdadun Rahmat, who is also a National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) commissioner, said on Monday that officials involved in the current reconciliation team, led by the ReligiousAffairs Ministry, were biased in favor of the majority Sunni community.“Officials [involved in the reconciliation program] apparently lack basic understanding of what reconciliation means. Reconciliation doesn’t entail conversion of members of one of the conflicting groups. We believe that the state must become an arbiter [in the reconciliation process],” Imdadun said in a public discussion to publish findings of an investigation into the plight of the Sampang Shia.Other than Komnas HAM, three other institutions joined the investigation; the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan), the Indonesian Commission on Child Protection (KPAI) and the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK).In the investigation, the team discovered a lack of coordination between government institutions tasked to carry out the reconciliation program.“Officials have said that they are not responsible for resolving the conflict, so the President needs to take a firm grip of the issue and make sure the reconciliation takes place as expected,” Imdadun said.Findings from the team also confirmed earlier reports of abuses of power by state officials in local and national government agencies.Rights groups have accused Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali of backing attempts to force the Shiites to renounce their faith as a condition for them getting guarantees of safety in their home villages after returning from their current shelter in Sidoarjo.Officials who are reported to have supported the forced conversion include Sampang Regent Fannan Hasib, who was nominated in the local election by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the United Development Party (PPP) led by Suryadharma, the head of Sampang’s Municipal Political and National Unity Office (Kesbangpol) Rudi Setiadi, as well as local police officials.Suryadharma has denied the allegation saying that the government had never required the Shiites to repent or convert to another form of Islam. The minister, however, insisted that members of the Shia community should strive for ‘enlightenment’ and bring their views closer to those of their neighbors.An official with the East Java administration, Edi Purwinarto, denied the local administration was involved in attempts to forcibly convert the Shiites (during the reconciliation program).However, Edi said, he believed in the minister’s judgment. “I don’t think what the minister meant by enlightenment is forced conversion. I think what he meant was efforts to bring a unified perspective on how to resolve the conflict,” he said.The team also found in the report that abuse of power by state officials in support of religious clerics of the majority group had taken place in the conflict.Komnas Perempuan commissioner Andy Yetriyani said that although the Shia-Sunni conflict in Sampang, was sparked by a family feud politics had aggravated the conflict.She said that children and women suffered the worst in the conflict.“Poor law enforcement has fuelled discrimination [against the Shia community] that further impacts on the life of its followers including children and women,” Andy said. She added that hate speech against the Shia community had prevented Shiite children getting access to education and health services./129