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The '''1998 East Java ninja scare''' was an outbreak of violence in [[East Java]], [[Indonesia]]. The local population believed they were being targeted by sorcerers, and in response, unidentified vigilantes, which people described as [[ninja|ninjas]] due to their all-black clothing, attacked and killed residents they suspected to be sorcerers, including religious [[Clergy|clerics]]. In response to these killings, some people in the area attacked and killed people they suspected to be ninjas.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=1998-11-03 |title=E Java mob lynches three policemen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MbUpAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22east+java%22+ninja&pg=PA4&article_id=2764,556298 |work=The Nation |pages=A6 |agency=[[Agence France-Presse]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1998-12-29 |title='Ninja' killings defy easy analysis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yvtkAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22east+java%22+ninja&pg=PA7&article_id=4125,6785997 |work=The Telegraph-Herald |pages=7A |agency=Knight Ridder News Service}}</ref> The outbreak began in February, with most of the deaths occurring between August and September.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |last=Kristof |first=Nicholas D. |date=20 October 1998 |title=Fears of Sorcerers Spur Killings in Java |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/20/world/fears-of-sorcerers-spur-killings-in-java.html |work=The New York Times |publisher= |via=NYTimes.com}}</ref>
The killings largely ended by the end of 1998; however, another group of similar killings occurred in December 1999.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1999-12-27 |title=Ninja-style murder spree returns to Indonesia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K2pTAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22east+java%22+ninja&pg=PA87&article_id=6382,6462271 |work=Daily News |agency=[[Reuters]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Heriwati |first=Retno |date=2000-01-06 |title=Ninja killers haunt Indonesia again |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DHRTAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22east+java%22+ninja&pg=PA31&article_id=6226,432997 |work=Daily News |pages=10 |agency=[[Reuters]]}}</ref> According to the [[National Commission on Human Rights]], 307 people were killed during the scare in total: 194 people in [[Banyuwangi Regency|Banyuwangi]], 108 in [[Jember Regency|Jember]], and seven in [[Malang]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Yulisman |first=Linda |date=2023-08-01 |title=25 years after bloody witch hunts in East Java, cases remain unresolved |url=https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2023/08/01/25-years-after-bloody-witch-hunts-in-east-java-cases-remain-unresolved.html |access-date=2024-10-17 |website=[[The Jakarta Post]] |language=en}}</ref>
==Background==
{{See also|Modern witch hunts#Indonesia}}
According to Jason Brown, [[Banyuwangi Regency|Banyuwangi]] is a centre of belief in black magic in Indonesia.<ref name=":4" /> Black magic practiced in Banyuwangi may be a mix of [[animist]] beliefs and [[Islamic mysticism]] which developed from inter-religious conflict during the 16th century Mataram court period.<ref name=":4" /> Belief in black magic, or [[Dukun|dukun santet]], is widespread in the area.<ref name=":4">{{cite web |last=Brown |first=Jason |date=30 July 2007 |title=The Banyuwangi murders |url=http://www.insideindonesia.org/the-banyuwangi-murders |website=Inside Indonesia}}</ref> Suspected sorcerers were also killed in Indonesia in 1965.<ref name=":2" /> In villages around Banyuwangi, local people killed suspected sorcerers intermittently for decades before the larger-scale violence in 1998.<ref name=":3" />
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