Tragedy
of Bosnia Repeated In Ambon
The
trials suffered by the Muslimeen in Karang Tagepe were
not less heavier. Their houses and villages were
complete burnt by the kafireen. There,
according to them, the tummies of pregnant Muslim women
were slit open. And then, the fetuses removed and
chopped. Small children who were running scared and
trying to save themselves, were caught and thrown into
the burning fire. The screams and cries of cute little
children were so heartbreaking. The devilish treatments
by the Christians were committed in the name of their
religion. Muslim girls were gang raped. Signs of a cross
were engraved with machetes on their breasts, which were
then cut out. Only when they were satisfied that the
Muslimahs were killed. Many of the Muslimahs were
already shaheed even before they were killed by
the kafireen. The indescribable pain had
stopped their heartbeats. Hopefully, Allah SWT is
willing to accept them in paradise just as He has
promised.
The incident that happened in the General Hospital in
Kudamati area was also heartrending. Because of the
attacks on the first day, a lot of Muslims were wounded.
They were taken to the General Hospital in Kudamati.
Though they knew that Kudamati was the base of the
Christians, but perhaps since it was near, they were
taken there. The attackers got the information that a
lot of Muslims were being treated in that hospital. As a
result, the hospital was attacked by the Christians. The
patients' Identity Card were searched for to know if the
patient was Muslim or non-Muslim. If the patient was
Muslim, he would be slaughtered straight away. Many of
the pregnant mothers being treated in the hospital had
disappeared. Hearing about that incident, many wounded
Muslims had their treatment in the Maternity Hospital,
which was inside the complex of Masjid Jami' Al-Fatah.
The Al-Fatah Maternity Hospital switched function to
become a general hospital.
Also on the first day of the riots, which coincided with
'Eidul Fitri 1 Shawal 1419 H , an unlucky fate
befell a family with two children who lived in Wayane
Village. It started from the happy atmosphere of a
celebration, they conducted silaturrohim to the
house of one of their relatives, which at the same time
was also a shop at Mardika Market. The market was then
burnt. In an instant, the atmosphere which earlier was
happy, changed drastically to become an atmosphere of
intense fear. Troubles happened in Batu Merah, Mardika
and other places. In the end, this family could not
return to their house in Wayame Village.
The next day, the riots became widespread. At midnight,
the Mardika Market was burnt. The father took the wife
and two small children out to save themselves from the
blazing fire. They took refuge inside a house nearby the
Mardika Market. The next morning they took the
opportunity to perform solat Dhuha and made
do'a so that they would be saved by Allah SWT from
the fear. They performed the solat and offered
the do'a for two hours i.e. until 9.00 AM.
After that, the family went out into the street. The
father carried the eldest son on his shoulders, while
the mother carried the youngest one. On the road located
by the sea, the atmosphere was very tense and chaotic.
The family ran slowly toward the direction of their
village with the dad's hands raised above his head
holding his son who was sitting on his shoulders.
Suddenly, while they were running and from the opposite
direction, a bunch of young people were calling at them
with a friendly call. Their hands were clasping
machetes, spears and other weapons. This father with a
good heart heard the call and had a good thought of it,
he thought those young men would be helping him. So,
this family ran towards them.
Grasping for breath, this family approached those young
men. A question was suddenly asked by them: "Muslim
or Christian!?" In a reflex, the father answered,
"Muslim". In the blink of an eye, a long and
sharp machete was swung towards the father's waist,
whose arms were still raised holding his eldest child.
The father screamed and fell down. His child also fell
not far from the father. Next a horrifying drama ensued,
witnessed by the mother and two children. The father
knelt and pleaded for sympathy, his hands were raised
higher, "Please, don't harm me. I am unarmed."
But the received response instead was a block of wood
that hit him right on the head. The father fell head
first. In a lightning speed, the sharp blade of a
machete split his head, followed by dozens other
machetes and spears that chopped his body. So painful
was the suffering endured by that family.
Swiftly, the mother carried her two
little children and ran away from there and hid inside a
storeroom of a hotel. She was forced to leave her
beloved husband. Alhamdulillah, they survived.
A tragic event occurred in a SMEA (Upper High School of
Economics) on the seventh day after the riots. Male and
female Muslim students at that time were asked to hide
by their Christian teachers, "Hey, you all just hide
somewehere. If those people know you are here, they will
finish you off. " Thus, the male and female Muslim
students hid in one room. Apparently, there was other
teacher, a Christian, who informed that there were
Muslim students in the school hiding themselves.
Eventually, the Christians came to the SMEA and
slaughtered all the Muslim students. In executing the
assault, the Christians were fully armed.
From afar, they used arrows. After getting a bit closer
they used spears. And when much closer they used
machetes. While we didn't have all those. We had no
intention to do bad things. Since they were attacking
us, we retaliated with any weapon available. We went to
the kitchen and found a knife, that knife was used. If a
machete was on hand we used it, when there was a bamboo,
we sharpened it (to become pointed like a spear).
They wore red and purple cloths tied around their heads.
Those with red headbands were tasked with doing the
assault, while those in purple were doing the
demolition. It was apparent that there was coordination
between them. In the Ambon riots, the Chinese were safe.
I saw that during the attack, those Chinese took out
white handkerchiefs with red stripes at the egdes. That
had made them not being attacked. All the shops of the
Muslims were burnt, while their shops were safe. At
Mardika Market, there was one place which was the
terminal, and in Batu Merah, Galunggung, etc. all those
belong to the Chinese and not burnt. In other places,
all the shops of the Muslims were burnt. Before doing
the attack, they looked at the map, which shops belonged
to the Muslims and which belonged to the Chinese. They
knew the place.
Many residents fled Ambon. On 8th February 1999, my
family and I left Ambon. The flow of refugees was so
massive. At the port, there were around 16,000 refugees
who must be transported out to Buton and Ujung Pandang.
The capacity of the Siguntang Ship was only for 7,000
passengers. Since the number of people who must be
transported was so massive, the ship was forced to carry
9,000 passengers. More than that the ship would sink.
That was from Ambon alone. Previously, a lot of ships
had already transported thousands of refugees from Banda
and Tual. It took me and my family three hours walking
from the bottom to upper deck of the ship! Whereas, it
would only take one minute normally. It was caused by
the sudden increase in the number of refugees. We could
no longer carry our goods, it all must be hoisted on
board.
Those Muslim Buton, Bugis and Makasar who returned to
their districts were actually only sending their
children and wives to a safer living place. After that,
they would return to Ambon together with the male
relatives. They would defend Ambon to the last drop of
the blood. They were already determined to conduct jihad
fie sabilillah. They told me, "Ustadz, we
are a people who already have a multitude of sins. When
else would we find a situation like this. Our religion
is humiliated, the honour of the Islamic ummah has been
trampled. Prophet Muhammad has been abused. When else
can I defend it if not now?!"
Those Muslims who had not left Ambon are now living in
the houses of those Muslims whose houses were not burnt.
As for those whose houses were burnt, they are still
occupying the Waihao People's Amusement Park, Masjid
Jami' Al-Fatah, Wayami and others. On average, the
Muslims got wounded on the arms. Some were on the legs.
Possibly, those arrows were given poisons, as many
caught tetanus after being hit by the arrows. There were
also those who were hit by the machetes.
On Saturday, which was the fifth day after the riots,
Islamic leaders met with Kapolda (head of the provincial
police) and asked for permission, "Until when are we
going to continue like this, when can this situation be
stopped? Please, allow us to confront them face to face.
Allow us to fight the Christians. We are only asking for
a period of four hours. If they win in the four hour
battle, we the Muslims will be out from Ambon, and Ambon
will not be for the Muslims". We have done that,
but the government apparatuses did not let us.
We had to do that because the apparatuses were so bias.
They were taking sides. The most partial are the police
and Brimob, where the majority of them are Christians.
The apparatuses who are Muslims were in the midst of a
holiday, going back home for the 'Eid
celebration. When the Christians were attacking, they
were allowed, but when it was our turn to retaliate they
opened fire. In fact some of our people were shot and
died. It happened on the second day.
The corpses of the people they massacred could not be
seen by us, since most of the incidents happened inside
their territories. In Kudamati for example, on the fifth
day of the riots, a sad incident befell the people of
Waihao. There was this entrepreneur in the fishery
industry, his name is Haji Lasanu. This Buton man was
asked by his boss, a Taiwanese to collect money in
Mangga Dua, the base of the Christians. He went together
with a crew of four people, plus one of his sons,
Musthofa who was only 17 years old. Actually, Musthofa
was sleeping at that time but was awakened by his
father. Haji Lasanu's wife tried to stop him from
bringing their son but he insisted. In the end the six
of them departed for Mangga Dua.
During the departure and on the arrival, there was no
incident. On the way back, the son and the four crews
were in the front car, while the father and his boss
were behind. En route, the boss realized that he had
forgotten his mobile phone, whether intentional or not,
one car had to go back to Mangga Dua. The car his son
was in continued the journey. On their way, they were
confronted by their Christians, those inside the car
could not do anything, because the number of their
obstructers was much greater. The five of them were
murdered straight away. After they were killed, their
dead bodies were cut in pieces. Their heads were
separated from the necks, the base of the arms were also
separated from the bodies. The attackers then destroyed
their vehicle, dousing it with benzene and torching it.
The shattered bodies were simply thrown into the burning
fire. This incident was witnessed by many people, it was
done right in the middle of the road.
At home the mother was already anxious as it was already
afternoon and the son still had not returned. In the
night, it was heard that the son had been killed and
burnt. Two days after that incident, there were news
that the corpses would be brought back to Waihao. In
Waihao, the cloths for the shrouding of the janazas
and five graves had already been dug nearby the house.
It was not possible for us to bury them in the Muslim
Cemetery because it was located in Mangga Dua, the
Christians' terrotiry.
The cemetery was actually a waqf (property
donated for religious or community use) land. However,
until now the letters had not been issued yet, because
the majority of the authorizing officials were
Christian. In the end, the land was occupied by the
Christians. They built a church and houses above the
land. From daytime to the midnight, the five janazas
were still not received. Actually, it was impossible. To
calm the families in Waihao, the police said that the
five victims had been buried in the Islamic way.
Whereas, it was not true.
The attacks by the Christians on the Muslims in Ambon
was not a purely criminal act. They view it as part from
their holy war. It should be that, the Islamic ummah
from outside Ambon – without us asking – must come, they
must feel compelled. Because, are we not brothers?
Rasulullah SAW said that we are like one body. When a
part was pinched, the entire body would feel the pain.
We are now very much in need of help from our brothers
in iman. Especially to generate the confidence
and spirit of jihad. If the Islamic ummah
already has the self confidence, and then its "izzatun
nafs" is raised, insha Allah, even without
the assistance from outside Ambon, we, the Islamic
ummah in Ambon can overcome them. If only the
apparatuses allow us to fight the kafirs for
just four hours, fairly, then insha Allah, we
are confident that we can overcome them all.
Nevertheless, we still require the assistance of our
brothers in iman from outside Ambon.
To be continued...