Council chairman Mukri Aji has appealed for calm after Wednesday’s incident, in which at least 30 people stormed the Muammar Qaddafy Mosque in the Bukit Az-Zikra neighborhood of Sentul, Bogor, in an attempt to confirm if there was a banner mocking Shiite Muslims. Security guard Faisal Karim, 43, was beaten in the confrontation. Mukri said people should have faith in the police, who were investigating the incident.
“I ask all the Muslims to not be provoked by linking the incident with religious affairs,” he said. “This is pure crime and I trust the police to handle it well.” Bogor Police on Friday arrested 34 suspects involved in the minor sectarian incident.
Syaifuddin Ahmad Syuhada, a leader at Muammar Qaddafy Mosque mosque, said that residents from a nearby housing complex had set up two banners rejecting Shiite Muslim. The banners, which measured one by four meters each, were hung at the gate of mosque and near the path leading to the mosque.
Mukri also told the Jakarta Globe that there was no major Shiite presence in the district. “Based on reports from our members in every sub-district, we haven’t found any development of the Shiites in Bogor,” he said.
The MUI is Indonesia’s highest Muslim authority.
The Jakarta Globe