Organization: Central Michigan University
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Mon, 14 Dec 1992 20:20:17 EST
From:         Elliott Parker <3ZLUFUR@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
Subject:      ID: Suharto urges religious tolerance

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Date: Wed, 9 Dec 92 14:18:14 CST

                     Copyright 1992 Agence France Presse
                              Agence France Presse

                                December  8, 1992


DATELINE:  JAKARTA

    Signs of renewed tension between Moslems and Christians in Indonesia
prompted President Suharto to abandon his usual reserve Tuesday and remind
citizens of their duty to show religious tolerance.

    Suharto's remarks came in the wake of attacks on six Christian churches and
places of worship in predominantly Moslem areas of Sumatra and Java between
August and November -- and amid Hindu-Moslem violence that has left hundreds
dead since Sunday on the Indian subcontinent.

    Several newspapers, including the Kompas Daily and the weekly Tempo, which
have been accused by fundamentalists of working for the Christianisation of the
country, have reportedly received threats.

     Jakarta  military commander Major-General Kentot Harseno said Monday that a
brawl between students of different religious faiths was narrowly averted
recently in  Jakarta.

    Suharto alluded to these incidents in a speech Monday to the opening of the
national conference of the Buddhist Council, the nation's highest authority on
Buddhism.

    "We should be conscious that if our society falls into the abyss of
inter-religious conflict, we will undergo a huge setback, because it will have a
wide impact and leave a wound that will take a long time to heal," the army
daily Angkatan Bersenjata quoted the president as saying.

    The appeal, printed on the front page of a number of Indonesian newspapers
Tuesday, came after similar remarks by officials and military leaders and is
widely seen here as a warning.

    Most analysts interpret the fact that the head of state has now spoken on
the issue as an indication that the authorities will not tolerate any lapse into
religious violence -- such as has been seen in India and the former Yugoslavia
-- that would threaten Indonesian unity.

    The authorities' concern over the possible repercussions of the bloody
clashes between Moslems and Hindus in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is well
founded, according to many.

    According to witnesses, some Moslem clerics have stirred religious hatred in
Indonesia by pointing to the actions of Christians against Moslems in
Bosnia-Hercegovina.

    Warned Suharto: "All religious leaders should be capable of restraining
themselves and their flocks."

    Since coming to power in 1966, Suharto has always upheld the official
doctrine which has made Indonesia, with the world's largest Moslem population, a
state neither secular, nor Islamic, but multidenominational.

    Some 88 percent of Indonesia's 185 million people are Moslems, but they are
supposed to live in equality with the country's Christian, Buddhist and Hindu
minorities.

    One Indonesian analyst said that behind the recent upsurge in religious
violence, which is not believed to have caused any casualties, was "the
aggressive Christian missionary zeal, especially that of the Protestant
Pentecostal sect in predominantly Moslem areas."

    But another blamed "a revival of Moslem fundamentalism in an Indonesian
society becoming increasingly westernized at too fast a speed."

    Others have attributed the increased tension to battles between factions
within the armed forces and the government in a period of political uncertainty
here.

    The 72-year-old Suharto plans to seek and is likely to win a sixth
consecutive term of office in March, but his deputy and possible successor has
not yet been named.

    The favourite for the post, military chief General Try Sutrisno, himself a
Moslem but supported by Christians, said Tuesday that "harmony and tolerance
between faiths" would be the government's prime goal.
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