[Kabar-indonesia] Muslims Attack Indonesia's "Mystical Tree; " Police Move to Protect Banyan

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

also: Indonesian Muslims ax 100-year-old tree rumored to be have
supernatural powers

Police move to protect "mystical tree" from attacks

JAKARTA, October 3 (Reuters) - Indonesian police have slapped a cordon
around a huge landmark Banyan tree in the capital after members of a
Muslim youth group attacked it to prove it had no special mystical
powers.

The governor of Jakarta filed a complaint with police after youths
hacked and damaged the 100-year-old banyan, on a traffic island in the
capital, in a bid to dispel rumours the tree harboured special powers.

"The city government tried hard not to cut the tree when we built a
new bus lane. It is more than 100 years old and it is important for
the environment," said Susi Marsitawati of Jakarta's park agency.

"But later rumours spread that the government was unable to fell the
tree because it has supernatural powers and is sacred," the official
said, adding that Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso had filed a complaint with
police.

Indonesia is predominantly Muslim, but a strong mystical vein runs
through the culture. Whatever their faith, many display a deeply
spiritual attitude and follow animist beliefs and various
superstitions.

Jeje Zainudin, chairman of the United Islam Youth, said the group had
carried out the attack to counter superstitions surrounding the tree.

"It is not a matter of chopping down the tree but this is to counter a
popular belief such as if (we) touch it, (we) will get sick or your
cleaver will break."

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Indonesian Muslims ax 100-year-old tree 
rumored to be have supernatural powers

JAKARTA, October 3 (AP) - Muslim hard-liners chopped up 
a 100-year-old banyan tree in Jakarta to halt a rumor about 
is special powers from spreading, prompting city authorities 
to report the attackers to police, officials said Tuesday.

Islam is a strongly monotheistic religion, and believing in any power
other than God is considered a grave sin. Hard-liners in Indonesia
often criticize other Muslims for still practicing Hindu, Buddhist and
animist rituals that predate Islam's arrival in the archipelago.

The sprawling tree's branches were hacked away Sunday, leaving just
its trunk, said Sarwo Handayani, head of the city's park agency. She
said it was too early to say if the tree will survive.

Earlier, rumors had spread that cutting down the tree would bring bad
luck because it was spared during a tree-felling drive to make way for
a new bus lane in central Jakarta, Handayani said.

She said the rumors gained strength after unidentified people left
offerings at the tree's base.

Handayani dismissed the rumors of supernatural involvement as
nonsense, saying officials did not fell the tree because the bus lane
could be routed around it.

"This was an outrageous act," she said of the damage to the tree,
adding that the city had reported it to police on Monday as an act of
vandalism.

The head of the Muslim group admitted to attacking the banyan, saying
it did so to prove that there was nothing mystical about the tree.

"Surely, no one can believe that a tree is more powerful than a
human," Zainal Arifin was quoted as saying by Detik.Com news Web site.
"We did this to propagate Islam."

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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