Acts of Violence No Coincidence

VIVAnews - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono calls for heads of provinces to pay attention to clashes and blows in the society that have caused disharmony and insecurity.

The President believes that the acts of violence taking place in Indonesia these days are no coincidence.

"There's no coincidence. The trigger may have only been a quarrel between two young men running after the same girl. But people are killed. It's revealed lately that the dead victims were either of different ethnic or religion," said Yudhoyono.

If no response is made upon the incidents, cases of equal scale may ignite more colossal fights. He then cited the Sampit conflict which occurred in South Kalimantan in 2001. "At that time, regents, police and military personnel wanted to solve the problems alone," he said.

The president stated that in the future, interracial, inter-religion, and inter-ethnical conflicts have to be settled by regional governments. He also requested provincial governments to keep up with social harmony and assurance.

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Coverage by: Rahmat Zeena, Makassar
Translated by: Bonardo Maulana W