Jakarta, Indonesia - Vice President Yusuf Kalla here on Monday called for an immediate end to the forcible closure and destruction of houses of prayer such as had happened in a number of places in the country recently.
"Efforts must be made to have people exercise restraint so that such incidents will not recur. It is our responsibility to stop such vandalist actions," he said at a meeting with tens of Moslem leaders and chiefs of Moslem organizations.
He said differences must not be settled through destructive acts lest national unity will suffer.
"Now is a good opportunity for religious leaders to give enlightenment to the people. I make this call so that we can implement it together," he said.
Referring to similar cases in the 1990s, he said destruction of churches always occurred in regions where Moslem formed the majority of the populace. The violence at Jalam Ketapang in Jakarta in 1999 was followed by the destruction of mosques elsehere and this, in turn, led to attacks on other churches.
"Acts of revenge occurred in Ambon, and later in Papua and Java. Unless these things are stopped this problem will drag on. Ad I think none of us would like like this to happen," he said.
He said Moslem figures and leaders of Moslem organizations should be able to keep their followers under control. "We talked last night. The police must be firm as of now," he said.
In response to the Cice President`s statement, Din Syamsudin, chairman of one of the country`s largest Moslem organizations, Muhammadiyah, said that religious leaders need to hold communications regarding the matter.
"There is indeed a need for communication or a dialogue with especially Christian leaders regarding the problem. We will open the forum some day," he said.
He said he welcomed the Vice President`s call and admitted the forcible closures could create tension in relations among the different religious communities.