NU condemns Sampang Shiite relocation

Jakarta, NU Onlline
Indonesia’s largest Muslim mass organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) has criticized the forced relocation of dozens of Sampang Shiites, saying that it is not a solution.<>

“The relocation will not bring any good, let alone tackle the conflict,” NU chairman KH. Said Agiel Siraj said as quoted by Antara news portal on Friday.

In common with NU, the Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) had earlier said that the local administration’s decision to relocate the Shiites from Madura to Sidoarjo was a gross mistake.

“The government, in its effort to settle the conflict, should pay more attention to reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction.Relocation should never be an option,” the commission said.

It said that eviction would stigmatize the evictees, especially women and children, and could cause them to be discriminated against in their new location.

“The government should return the evictees to their homes in Sampang and provide security for them instead,” it added.

Members of the Sampang Shia community, who were displaced from their homes following an attack on their village last August, have been moved from a sports complex in Sampang in which they had sought refuge for the past year.

They have been forced to relocate to low-cost apartments in Sidoarjo, due to pressure from some within the majority Sunni community who demanded the internally displaced persons (IDPs) leave the area.

The dispute is believed to have originated in a personal rivalry between two siblings, Rois who is Sunni and older brother Tajul Muluk who is practicing Shiite. However, the conflict then widened into a religious conflict and led to groups of hardliners vandalizing and then burning down houses belonging to Shiites.

Editing by Sudarto Murtaufiq