JAKARTA, Sept. 19 (Kyodo) - Rioting by Muslims in Indonesia's West Java on
Monday left two Christian churches and dozens of houses burned down and caused
188 people to seek refuge, a local official said Wednesday.
The incident took place in Cipatujah district of the Tasikmalaya regency,
according to district chief Iin Aminuddin.
Aminuddin said the mob burned 36 homes and two churches in the district, but no
casualties were reported.
''The refugees are staying at a local sports hall and will be transferred to a
school building later today,'' he said.
According to Aminuddin, the incident was triggered by distribution of leaflets
reporting a past alleged incident in which a non-Muslim was said to have
offended Muslims by putting Arabic characters on a tag for his dog.
Islam regards dogs as unclean, while Arabic is used by Muslims in Indonesia to
study Islamic scriptures.
Tasikmalaya, located some 380 kilometers from Jakarta, is known as a stronghold
of traditionalist Muslims.
The town was hit by major religious and ethnic unrest in December 1996 when
widespread rioting was directed against Christians and Chinese-Indonesians,
leaving several people dead and 12 churches burned down.
Almost 90% of Indonesia's 210 million people are Muslims.
AP-NY-09-19-01 0523EDT
Copyright 2001 The Kyodo News Service.