REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Tolikara incident should serve to increase awareness at both the individual and national level, according to the National Police's Head of the Public Relations Division, Insp. Gen. Anton Charliyan.
"Indonesia is a great nation that has matured," Charliyan stated here on Tuesday.
According to Charliyan, the incident could improve solidarity, tolerance, and unity among all elements of the nation without creating any further divisions in the society.
He also urged the people to demonstrate to the international community that Indonesia is a nation that has been able to mature and evolve. The Indonesian society is a religious society that upholds interfaith tolerance.
"Indonesia is not a nation that promotes mutual revenge. Indonesia is a nation that cannot be provoked easily," he affirmed.
Earlier, the Tolikara Resort Police Station investigated 29 people related to the incident that occurred in Tolikara Region, Papua, Chief Directorate General of Criminal Investigation of Papua Police Command Senior Commissioner Dwi Riyanto stated.
Conversing with journalists, here on Tuesday, Riyanto revealed that the 29 people who were investigated were only witnesses, and no one has been named as a suspect.
The witnesses who had been questioned were the victims of a stone-pelting incident while performing Eid prayers at Karubaga sub-district military command field.
Riyanto pointed out that the police are still investigating and collecting evidence and statements from the witnesses for both the victim and those who saw the incident.
The Directorate General of Criminal Investigation of Papua Police Command has also deployed 12 investigators to assist Tolikara Resort Police Station to solve the case related to the attacks by members of the Evangelical Christians in Indonesia (GIDI) on Muslims performing prayers during Eid and the burning down of kiosks and houses belonging to Muslims. The fire also razed a mosque (Islamic house of prayer) located around the stalls catching fire.
Meanwhile, the case of civilians being shot during the attacks is now being investigated by the police's Profession and Security Division of Papua Police Command, Riyanto remarked.
Several people were shot and wounded when the police tried to stop a mob from attacking Muslims performing their Eid al-Fitr morning prayers at a mosque in Karubaga, the capital of the Tolikara district in Papua. One person died, and 54 kiosks, houses, and a mosque were burnt down during the incident.
However, the situation in Tolikara is now conducive, and the government is rebuilding the mosque and kiosks.
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