Mob Destroys Four Wayang Statues

Bandung. Four statues depicting characters from traditional Javanese puppetry were vandalized and burned on Sunday in Purwakarta, West Java.

Local police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Bachtiar Ujang Purnama said police were still investigating the case. “The Purwakarta police dete ctives are in the process of identifying the people involved in the vandalism,” Bachtiar told the Jakarta Globe.

“We want the public to know that this kind of damage is against the law and these actions should not be repeated. We encourage everyone to keep Purwakarta peaceful.”

Television station Metro TV reported that a mob coming from a post-Idul Fitri prayer at the city’s Grand Mosque was responsible for the damage. Thousands of people descended on the Comro area of the city, where they tied ropes to the statue of puppet character Gatot Kaca before trying to pull it off of its foundation. The statue finally collapsed after the rope was tied to a moving van.

The crowd then targeted the statue of Semar, another puppet character situated in the Bunder area. The mob threw rocks and pulled it to the ground before hitting it with sticks and metal rods then setting it on fire.

The statue of puppet character Bima in the Ciwareng area was also targeted, as was the “Welcome” statue on Jalan Gandanegara, where the Purwakarta District office is located. Both statues were also destroyed and set on fire.

The mob then moved to statues depicting the twin brothers Nakula and Sadewa. Hundreds of police and army officers were already there guarding the final two statues. The mob dispersed when it started raining.

Bachtiar said police questioned the organizers of the post-Idul Fitri celebration to find out how participants came to valdalize the four statues.

Although it is still unknown if the hard-line Islamic People’s Forum (FUI) are responsible for the damage, FUI was opposed to the statues when the project was announced by the city administration last year.

FUI had said the statues were “against the Islamic identity of the city” and claimed the statues would encourage people to have “superstitious beliefs.”

Hard-line Muslim groups have vandalized statues and monuments — considered a form of idolatry by some conservative Muslims — in the past.

Members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) in Bekasi last year pushed for the dismantling of the “Tiga Mojang” statue, which they deemed offensive while hard-line groups in North Sumatra rallied for the removal of a Buddhist statue at a temple, which the groups deemed “offended Muslims” in the area.