1998 East Java ninja scare: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|East JavanJava masskillings hysteriaof suspected sorcerers}}

{{refimprove|date=May 2018}}

The '''1998 East Java ninja scare''' was an outbreak of [[mass hysteria]]violence in [[East Java]], [[Indonesia]],. in which theThe local population believed they were being targeted by sorcerers., Inand in response, unidentified vigilantes, knownwhich people described as [[ninja|ninjas]] due to their all-black garbclothing, killedattacked aand numberkilled ofresidents they suspected to be sorcerers, including religious leaders[[Clergy|clerics]]. In response to these killings, othersome Indonesianspeople 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 scareoutbreak began in February, with most of the deaths during the scare 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>

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" />

Indonesia saw other political and economic tensions during 1998, including the [[May 1998 riots of Indonesia|May riots]] and the [[Fall of Suharto|resignation]] of President [[Suharto]].<ref name=":2" />

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===Theories===

There have been a number of theories regarding who was behind the killings. Some have argued that the killings were encouraged covertly by the military in an effort to destabilize the new Indonesian government, or to weaken Nahdlatul Ulama or the emerging Islamic [[National Awakening Party]].<ref name=":2" /> [[Nahdlatul Ulama]] has claimed that security forces were involved.<ref name=":2" /> The [[National Commission on Human Rights]] concluded in 2018 that the murders were "conducted by 'trained' and 'organized' assailants, and that national security forces enabled the killings by not intervening until September 1998.<ref name=":2" /> Anthropologist Nicholas Herriman interviewed many area residents and described the events as "local people killed other local residents whom they believed to be sorcerers", related to local perceptions that the government was not able to sufficiently protect them from sorcerers at the time.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Herriman |first=Nicholas |date=2007-03-01 |title=“Sorcerer” Killings in Banyuwangi: A Re-Examination of State Responsibility for Violence |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/10357820701196692 |journal=Asian Studies Review |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=61–78 |doi=10.1080/10357820701196692 |issn=1035-7823}}</ref>

There have been a number of theories regarding who was behind killings.

Some have argued that the killings were encouraged covertly by the military in an effort to destabilize the new Indonesian government, or to weaken Nahdlatul Ulama or the emerging Islamic [[National Awakening Party]].<ref name=":2" /> [[Nahdlatul Ulama]] has claimed that security forces were involved.<ref name=":2" /> The [[National Commission on Human Rights]] concluded in 2018 that the murders were "conducted by 'trained' and 'organized' assailants, and that national security forces enabled the killings by not intervening until September 1998.<ref name=":2" />

== Impacts ==