Ni Komang Erviani (The Jakarta Post)
Denpasar ●
Fri, September 6, 2013
The continued theft of sacred art from the island’s major temples has angered Balinese society and law enforcers must take stern action against those involved in the shameful crime, a leading community leader stated.
I Ketut Bagus Arjana, coordinator of the Hindu Bali Alliance, said on Thursday that the police and legal institutions had to act quickly to uncover the ring of thieves, which allegedly included local players as well as international buyers and collectors.
‘The people caught stealing this art received lenient punishments, which encourages them to continue their actions. At the same time, the buyers and collectors received minor punishment,’ Arjana said.
The alliance consists of Hindu activists from the Indonesian Hindu Students Association (KMHDI), Puskor Hindu Indonesia and Cakra Wahyu. Members of the alliance visited Bali Legislative Council to put pressure on legislators to deal with this ongoing crime.
In 2010, for example, Roberto Gamba, an Italian who bought hundreds of stolen pretima (small effigies made of precious woods and usually bedecked with gold and gemstones) from the thieves, was imprisoned for only five months.
Two other defendants in the case, I Gusti Lanang Sidemen and Komang Oka Sukaya, received seven-year prison sentences.
Four other Balinese charged in connection with the case received sentences of between six-and-a-half and seven years’ imprisonment.
The alliance demanded the authorities use articles on religious blasphemy and the cultural heritage law to charge these criminals.
A massive number of sacred objects have been stolen from dozens of major temples across the island since early this year. Similar cases have also occurred in previous years.
Most of the stolen objects were pretima. Balinese Hindus highly value these items, as they believe they are an earthly, physical presence of their gods.
On the international black market, a pretima could fetch a very high price, as they were considered highly collectible, an art collector said.
The most recent case involved four suspects believed to be responsible for a string of burglaries targeting sacred objects from Hindu temples across the island. The suspects were identified as Abdul Razak, Mohamad Soleh, Hamzah and Ramdan.
The police are currently searching for four remaining members of the gang. The suspects, who are still at large, were identified as A, S, F and M.
The police have distributed pictures of the four suspects in public places across the island.
‘We suspect that members of this gang were responsible for all, or most of, the 44 reported burglaries targeting temples in Badung, Denpasar, Gianyar, Klungkung and Tabanan,’ Bali Police crime unit chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Hari Hariadi said.
He disclosed that it took the police one-and-a-half years investigating the cases before finding solid evidence.
Chairman of Bali Legislative Council’s commission IV, Nyoman Partha, said that he agreed with the alliance.
‘Heavy punishment for people stealing sacred objects might deter them from this crime,’ the legislator said.
