Jakarta, IO – Jakarta Metropolitan Police Chief Inspector General Karyoto confirmed that the shooter at the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) head office used an airsoft gun. Although the weapon is not classified as a firearm, the bullets managed to injure one person in the building at Proklamasi street.
“Police recovered round pellet bullets, a small gas cylinder, from an airsoft gun,” he said, reported Detik, Tuesday (2/5).
The shooting occurred at 11.24 am WIB on Tuesday (2/5). The male perpetrator entered the building but was held up by security guards. He then took out the gun and started shooting. He then fled and was chased by the security guards. After being caught, he suddenly fainted and died.
“The deceased was taken to the local police station and his body is currently at Menteng community health center,” said Karyoto.
The cause of death was not yet known. The perpetrator, revealed to be from Lampung, carried a letter describing his will.
“We cannot explain one by one, we are still investigating whether the letter was written by him. We will also send a personnel to Lampung to check his background,” he said.
Before the shooting, MUI deputy chair Anwar Abbas said the perpetrator had come to MUI to meet its chairman KH Miftachul Akhyar. Based on the information he received, the perpetrator came and preached, claiming he was a prophet.
When the perpetrator came for the second time, Anwar told the security guards to have him wait because KH Miftachul Akhyar was still in a meeting. But moments later he suddenly opened fire.
Meanwhile, former MUI chairman Din Syamsuddin said that hatred towards MUI or Islam in general has been going on for a long time, considering that similar incidents where mosques were vandalized and clerics attacked also happened in 1965.
Read: Indonesia-South Korea agree to abandon US Dollar to strengthen bilateral ties
Apart from being regarded as Islamophobia, it can also be perceived as a systematic act like during the 2019 general elections. In most of the cases, police stated that the perpetrators were people with mental illness.
“The National Police must be able to reveal the mastermind behind these incidents. It’s a shame that the perpetrators cannot be interrogated because they either died or were said to be insane. How can crazy people destroy places of worship in seemingly coordinated manner?” he said. (bp)