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A Shameful Display At Suspects’ Funerals
Editorial | August 13, 2009

The bodies of two suspected terrorists — Air Setiawan and Eko Joko Sarjono— being carried to a be burial in Central Java on Thursday. (Photo: Ali Lutfi, JG) The bodies of two suspected terrorists — Air Setiawan and Eko Joko Sarjono— being carried to a be burial in Central Java on Thursday. (Photo: Ali Lutfi, JG)
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batamhog
9:17am Aug 14, 2009

This shows that Bashir is a threat to this nation. He and all his followers should be arrested and and put away in a small hole somewhere to never be seen or heard from again.

This shows us all that Bashir is as guilty as they come. Why is it that he is still able to preach his distorted message?

Why is the government not doing anything about him?

By his actions alone, he again disgraces not only Indonesians and also all Muslims and the rest of the world.

Please Indonesia, do something about this threat to the people.

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There are times when a funeral can be a shameful thing.

That was our reaction to the burial rites held on Thursday in Sragen, Central Java, for Air Setyawan and Eko Joko Sarjono, the two suspects killed by police last Saturday in Bekasi. The two were found in possession of 500 kilograms of explosives that police said were part of a plot to assassinate President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

But somehow hundreds of cars and motorcycles were reported to have accompanied their bodies to a public cemetery where a large crowd gathered to hear notorious Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, founder of the Ngruki Muslim Boarding School in Solo and accused spiritual leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah terror network, lead prayers for the slain men.

This action goes beyond the bounds of decency and is an insult to the victims of terrorism in Indonesia. Police have said these men were part of the same network, allegedly guided by the fugitive Noordin M Top, that carried out the July 17 attacks on two Jakarta luxury hotels that killed seven innocent people. The network is also linked to other terror attacks in the country, including the Bali bombings of 2002 and 2005.

That Bashir, who blames the CIA for the attacks on the hotels, remains free to preach his distorted message of hate is bad enough. That a sizeable number of people would gather for his appearance at the funerals is a sign that we still have a long way to go before we can say that the ideology of terrorism is losing steam in Indonesia.

Bashir’s attempt to turn the funeral of accused terrorists into a publicity stunt to promote his radical teachings should be denounced in the strongest possible terms.

We have been heartened recently by reports that Bashir has been rebuffed by some communities where he has sought a platform for his preaching. We were also struck that the funeral on Wednesday for Ibrahim, the hotel florist who was killed in a gunbattle with police after being identified as a key organizer of the July 17 attacks, took all of five minutes, had no Muslim prayers read and was even boycotted by his family. He was not a hero and the public wisely stayed away.

Ours is a tolerant society, founded on the firm belief that different peoples and religions can coexist in harmony. The message from the gravesite in Central Java on Thursday was a distortion of everything this nation stands for. Terrorists must not be treated as heroes and martyrs. They are criminals whose mission is futile and whose justification is delusional.

We must show zero tolerance for those who praise and promote acts of terror. The police have shown the way by hunting down these criminals. We are sure their efforts will continue to bear fruit. Our society — religious leaders, educators, politicians, writers and others ­— must also make it plain that terrorists and their allies have no place in a peaceful nation.