There’s been a great deal of controversy over the police escorting members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FUI) as they visited malls in Surabaya on Sunday to make sure that businesses complied with a recently issued fatwa from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI). But there was was another incident which took place early Sunday morning in Solo, Central Java, in which another even uglier act of “sweeping” seems to have occurred.
Sweeping (the term used here to describe Muslim hardliner groups acting as self-appointed moral police by raiding venues and attacking those that do not comply with their religious rules) is often denounced by government officials, most recently National Police Chief Tito Karnavian and President Joko Widodo, but it still happens with alarming frequency. The latest such violent sweeping incident appears to have occurred at a restaurant/nightclub called Social Kitchen in Solo.
We say “appears” because the hardline group believed to be behind the attack, the People’s Army of Islam Surakarta (LUIS), admits some of its members were at the scene of the crime when it occurred but deny any involvement in the vandalism and violence that took place.
According to LUIS spokesperson Endro Sudarsono, members of the organization arrived at Social Kitchen at 2 am on Sunday to request a hearing with the restaurant’s management over complaints from the public about the restaurant selling liquor and being open too late.
“At [the time we came to Social Kitchen] there were eight members of LUIS that arrived in a car,” Endro said as quoted by Tempo yesterday.
However, witnesses reported seeing dozens of men on motorcycles arriving at Social Kitchen at around the same time, with some estimates putting their number at around 90 assailants. Many of them wore robes and helmets to conceal their identities.
Endro said that, after LUIS members were already inside the venue to demand a meeting with the management, the assailants happened to come in at the same time and started trashing the restaurant and attacking customers.
“When we were already there, dozens of unidentified men wearing robes and closed helmets suddenly went into the restaurant and did destruction and beatings. We got out of the restaurant. We do not know who they were because their faces were covered,” Endro said as quoted by Detik.
Police investigating the case said that three of the witnesses to the attack were women who were seriously injured by the assailants. These include a 21-year-old identified as WR who suffered a serious wound to the head that was almost 10 centimeters wide, AP, a 20-year-old woman who also suffered wounds to her head and TAS, a 21-year old woman whose knee was injured.
Despite LUIS’s denials, Central Java Police arrested four members of the organization early this morning as well as a lawyer associated with the group in connection with the attack.
