People to express their disapproval of the planned burial of terror suspect

Scores of residents of Mijen village in Kudus district, Central Java, rallied in front of their village chief’s office on Wednesday Bagus Budi Pranoto alias Urwah in the area.

Urwah was killed along with long-sought terror mastermind Noordin M Top in a police raid in Solo last week, and his body is currently still in the morgue of the Police Hospital in Kramatjati, Jakarta.

Calling themselves "Peace-loving Community Forum", the villagers carried a banner that said, "We, residents of Mijen village, oppose terrorist actions, don’t want Kudus to become a terrorist haven, and oppose the burial of terrorists in Kudus."

Saying they did not want Urwah’s body to be brought to their village, the demonstrators urged the local authorities to forbid the transfer of Urwah’s body to their village. Sukis Jiwantoro, the rally’s coordinator who is also chairman of Mijen village’s Community Consultative Body (BPD), said although Urwah was born in the village, the local community did not want to see him buried in their region.

"Indonesian people, including residents of Mijen village, cannot accept the terrorist acts Urwah and his friends have committed under the label of jihad," he said.

Besides, Urwah was no longer registered as a resident of Mijen village, Jiwantoro said, adding the decision to reject Urwah’s burial was taken collectively "because we don’t want our place to become known as a terrorist kampong."

The rally took place at 09:00 am , amid busy traffic on the Kudus-Jepara road and attracted the attention of many passers-by some of whom even stopped their vehicles to watch it. To prevent a traffic congestion and keep an eye on the demonstrators, local police deployed a detail at the scene.

The demonstators had wanted to meet village administration officials but nobody was at the office because of the holiday season. After some time, the demonstrators moved to the main square of Kudus city where they continued their rally, before they eventually dispersed, the crowd hung one banner containing their message on the front fence of the Kudus district administration office and another one at the square.