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What is this all about?

Reverend Rinaldy Damanik, an Indonesian Church leader and humanitarian worker, was sentenced on June 16 to three years' imprisonment. He was framed (in a laughable case) for illegal weapons possession. This is a politically-motivated trial. 

The judges in this case have admitted in open court that, after considering the testimony and the evidence presented, the prosecution failed to present a cohesive case. The foremost expert on Indonesian law, Dr. J.E. Sahetapy, urged the judges to throw out the illegally obtained evidence. Sahetapy, an emeritus professor of law at Airlangga University and member of the Indonesian Parliament, testified that Damanik is being framed by the police, an all too common occurrence in Indonesia; and the court, therefore, should dismiss his case.

During the bloody religious conflict that devastated Indonesia beginning in December 1998, Damanik, was a vocal critic of the government and Army's complicity in the bloodshed. There is a growing consensus that the conflict was started and perpetuated by government officials, security forces and business conglomerates -- who used the ensuing instability to steal the region's vast natural resources. 

Accordingly, those responsible for the conflict are now trying to distract the public by making Damanik a scapegoat and by implication, the Christian community as the provocateurs. For those responsible, instigating and perpetuating the conflict in Central Sulawesi was just business as usual. "They profited off the instability by raping the region of its natural resources; and they are profiting off the current detente by embezzling money meant for refugees. They are using the police, the military, and radical Islamic militias as their personal thugs. And they are now trying to wash their hands of the thousands of lives lost by blaming Christians in general, and Rinaldy Damanik, in particular, as the cause of the conflict.

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