Recently in Indonesia Category

Indonesia is generally tougher on jihadists with international connections, like Umar Patek, than it is with homegrown Islamic supremacist thugs, to whom the government generally seems content to turn a blind eye as long as they restrict themselves to targeting non-Muslims.

More on this story. "Alleged Bali bomber to face six charges," from the Australian Associated Press, February 7:

The man believed to have built the devices used in the first Bali bombings which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, will be charged with mass murder for his alleged role in the 2002 attacks.

Prosecutors today delivered a 50-page indictment to the West Jakarta District Court where Umar Patek is expected to face trial later this month on six charges related to his suspected involvement in terrorist activities over more than a decade.

Patek, who has allegedly already admitted to a role in the Bali bombings, won't be charged with terrorism offences over the 2002 attacks because Indonesia's tough anti-terrorism laws, introduced in 2003, cannot be applied retrospectively.

However, he will face a charge of premeditated mass murder in relation to the bombing of two nightclubs in the popular holiday area of Kuta 10 years ago, as well as a series of bombings of churches in Indonesia in 2000.

If found guilty of the murder charges he could be sentenced to death.

A copy of the indictment, seen by AAP, also lists charges of conspiracy to commit terrorism, harbouring information on terrorism, possession of explosives and firearms, as well as two counts of document fraud.

Indonesian authorities, including a special counter-terrorism unit with the Attorney-General's Department, have been working on building a watertight case against Patek since his extradition from Pakistan in August last year.

Bambang Suharyadi, one of a team of 15 prosecutors who will be involved in the trial, told AAP last night that the indictment covered Patek's alleged involvement in terrorist activities "from the Christmas bombings up to his arrest in Pakistan".

The 43-year-old spent almost 10 years at the top of Southeast Asia's most-wanted list before his capture in January 2011 in Abbottabad, the same Pakistani town where US forces killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden last May.

Prosecutors will present evidence from up to 80 witnesses during the trial, including testimony from Australian and American survivors who lived through the horror of the Bali attacks.

They will also rely on evidence already provided by Patek, who in October last year retraced his steps in the final hours before bombs were detonated at the Sari Club and Paddy's Bar.

The evidence also includes video of Patek showing police where he finished assembling the bombs.

Patek is the last of the key members of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) - the group behind the Bali bombings - to face justice over what remains Indonesia's most deadly terrorist attack.

His trial comes after the conviction last year of high-profile JI co-founder and the spiritual leader of the jihadist movement in Indonesia, Abu Bakar Bashir, following the discovery of a secret paramilitary training camp in Aceh.

The bespectacled cleric served almost 26 months behind bars for conspiracy over the 2002 Bali bombings but that conviction was later overturned.

Patek's trial will be conducted amid heavy security, with authorities concerned about the possibility of reprisal attacks from his old network, which they believe may still be active in Indonesia.

It is expected to run until late May or early June.

It's one thing to advise against it on religious grounds, but this missive comes from Aceh, where the imposition of Sharia has only gotten more intensive, and morality policing is already well off the rails. It is quite another matter when such a prohibition becomes grounds for harassment and intervention by law enforcement of one form or another, as is also frequently the case in Saudi Arabia. "Indonesia/Islam: Aceh Ulema Warns Muslims Against Observing Valentine’s Day," from the International Islamic News Agency, February 6:

BANDA ACEH (Indonesia),14 Rabi al-Awwal/6 Feb (IINA)-Ulema in Aceh have warned Muslims, the younger generation in particular, that observing Valentine’s Day is not allowed in Islam and against Sharia law that is in force in all of Aceh province.

“It is haram for Muslims to observe Valentine’s Day because it does not accord with Islamic Sharia” Tgk Feisal, general secretary of the Aceh Ulema Association (HUDA), said on Monday.

In Islam, he said, love should not be expressed or shown on a certain day only but every day. “Therefore, Islam’s younger generation should not participate in the celebration of a foreign festivity,” he said.

Faisal Ali who is also chairman of the Aceh branch of Nahdlatul Ulama called on Muslim parents, especially those in Aceh, to instruct and supervise their children in the matter.

“We must prevent the Muslim younger generation in Aceh from being poisoned by a culture that contradicts our Muslim values. Therefore, everybody, parents in particular, should give our youth the proper guidance,” he said.

He also called on the government to uphold and implement Islamic Sharia in “serious and sincere ways and not just out of political expediency or momentarily.”

“Islamic Sharia cannot prevail in Aceh as expected if it is not supported fully by the government and other parties in authority,” he said.

The government must also watch out for youths participating in Valentine’s Day activities in Aceh, he said.

There appears to be a state of official denial of how conditions for religious minorities in Indonesia have deteriorated, even just in the past 10 years. Officially, Indonesia is still modern, moderate, and tolerant, and that's that. Everything is fine on paper, so everything must be fine in reality. "37 Indonesian Christians to Be Deported From US This Month," from Antara, February 3:

A group of Indonesian Christians to be deported from the United States despite voicing fears of religious persecution at home are scheduled to return on Feb. 29, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

That group of 37 will be joined by 58 more in November, Foreign Ministry spokesman Michael Tene said.

The 95 Indonesians, who spent the last 20 years in Garrison City, New Hampshire, are joining at least 70 more of their countrymen living in New Jersey who received similar notices from US immigration authorities.

They had all been petitioning US officials for a bill that would allow them to reapply for asylum after missing a key cut-off date.

Tene on Friday urged the citizens to abide by US laws.

“These are our citizens who have entered the US and their stay permits have expired. Therefore, we appeal to them to abide by the existing rules,” he said.

Tene also said that their fears of being persecuted at home were not a valid reason for the Indonesians to seek asylum in the United States.

“Their reasons are not true because no one is threatening their religious freedom in Indonesia.”

He said the state guarantees religious freedom in Indonesia, and that cases of religious persecution were isolated incidents.

“There has never been a conscious or systematic effort to suppress minority groups. All kinds of groups and religions are allowed to exist in Indonesia,” he said.

There has indeed been a systematic effort to suppress the Ahmadis, and the government has turned a blind eye to persecution of Christians by thugs like the Islamic Defenders Front and local governments like that of Bogor. For that matter, there is a major difference between "allowed to exist" and genuine freedom of religion.

This self-righteous instability will eventually impoverish the entire society, both materially, as angry mobs destroy what they will, and intellectually, as dissent becomes physically dangerous. An update on this story. "Calls to Behead Indonesian Atheist Alexander Aan," by Presi Mandari for the Jakarta Globe, February 2 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Jakarta. A defiant declaration of atheism by an Indonesian civil servant has inflamed passions in the world’s most populous Muslim nation, pitting non-believers and believers against each other.

The trouble began when civil servant Alexander Aan posted a message on the Facebook page of Atheist Minang, a group of Indonesians with godless beliefs. It read: “God doesn’t exist.”

The post so enraged residents in Aan’s hometown of Pulau Punjung in West Sumatra province that an angry mob of dozens stormed his office and beat up the 30-year-old.

To add insult to injury, police then arrested him and now want to press blasphemy charges that could see him locked up for five years.

Muslim extremists have called for Aan to be beheaded but fellow atheists have rallied round, and urged him to stand by his convictions despite the pressure.

“Dear Alex, stick to your beliefs. This country has no right to restrict your faith,” Fahd Singa Diwirja wrote on the same Facebook page, where Aan is one of the administrators.

“You’re facing narrow-minded people, but this is the true Indonesia, a fertile ground for the spread of fundamentalism,” Diwirja added, advising Aan to escape persecution by seeking asylum in a European country.

Jakarta. A defiant declaration of atheism by an Indonesian civil servant has inflamed passions in the world’s most populous Muslim nation, pitting non-believers and believers against each other.

The trouble began when civil servant Alexander Aan posted a message on the Facebook page of Atheist Minang, a group of Indonesians with godless beliefs. It read: “God doesn’t exist.”

The post so enraged residents in Aan’s hometown of Pulau Punjung in West Sumatra province that an angry mob of dozens stormed his office and beat up the 30-year-old.

To add insult to injury, police then arrested him and now want to press blasphemy charges that could see him locked up for five years.

Muslim extremists have called for Aan to be beheaded but fellow atheists have rallied round, and urged him to stand by his convictions despite the pressure.

“Dear Alex, stick to your beliefs. This country has no right to restrict your faith,” Fahd Singa Diwirja wrote on the same Facebook page, where Aan is one of the administrators.

“You’re facing narrow-minded people, but this is the true Indonesia, a fertile ground for the spread of fundamentalism,” Diwirja added, advising Aan to escape persecution by seeking asylum in a European country.

Aan has also gained the support of the US-based International Atheist Alliance.

The group, together with Atheist Minang, has written to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, calling on him to ensure that the blasphemy allegations are dropped.

“This is a law that has been used to promote mob violence and intimidation against those who do not agree with ... vigilante groups,” said the letter, copies of which were also sent to the United Nations and Human Rights Watch.

Aan’s proclamation has been removed from the page, but the Facebook group has doubled to 2,000 since the controversy made local news reports.

Most of the postings, however, are diatribes against Aan and his supporters.

“These atheists should be beheaded, that’s what they deserve,” wrote a man who identified himself as Putra Tama, a Muslim from neighboring Jambi province. [...]

Local police chief Chairul Aziz said this week that Aan, who had written on his Facebook page that he was brought up as a Muslim, had expressed his willingness to revert to Islam but that it would not be enough to escape punishment.

“He expressed his intention to convert to Islam but he has not performed an Islamic declaration of faith. Even if he does so, he still can’t escape from justice due to his blaphemous act,” Aziz said.

He said Aan could face additional charges, including falsely declaring himself a Muslim when he applied for a civil service job years ago.

There's an interesting Catch-22, considering that atheism is not legally recognized, and openly stating his beliefs got him charged with blasphemy.

The Islamic Society Forum (FUI), an umbrella group for several hard-line groups, said that a five-year jail term for Aan would not suffice. “He deserves the death penalty, even if he decides to repent. What he has done cannot be tolerated,” said Muhammad al-Khaththath, FUI’s secretary-general....

Indonesia's approach to homegrown Islamic thug groups like the Islamic Defenders Front is noticeably more flexible than its dealings with groups with international connections. In particular, there seems to be no sense of urgency as long as "Islamic vigilantism" restricts its targets to Christians and Ahmadis. But evidence is accumulating that feeding that proverbial crocodile will not keep the peace in the long run, but only create a stronger challenge to the authority of the government that will indeed come back to bite them.

"Indonesia's Islamic vigilantes 'turning to terrorism'," from the Times Online (Sri Lanka), January 26 (thanks to all who sent this in):

JAKARTA, Jan 26, 2012 (AFP) - Tolerance of Islamic vigilantism is helping to breed a new generation of terrorists in Indonesia, the International Crisis Group warned in a report Thursday.

The report criticised the government and police for lax law enforcement against hardliners, who often claim responsibility for violent anti-vice and sectarian attacks but regularly evade punishment.

“Indonesia: From Vigilantism to Terrorism in Cirebon” described how a group of poor uneducated men in the western Javanese town went from using sticks and stones in morality raids to using bombs and guns.

“What we saw in Cirebon was a a group of about 10 people who started out on a path to terrorism by participating in anti-vice campaigns,” ICG analyst Sidney Jones told AFP.

“By using violence in these campaigns, they clearly violated the law but weren't punished.” The group went from carrying out anti-vice attacks on TV stations and convenience stores selling alcohol to orchestrating suicide attacks on a police mosque and a church on Java island.

The attacks last year killed only the bombers themselves, but injured scores of others with nails, nuts and bolts spraying from homemade explosives.

“The government's saving grace is that the groups that have embarked on this path are poorly trained with very low capacity, but it won't always stay that w

The radicalisation of the Cirebon group was fuelled by weekly sermons where spiritual leaders encouraged the bloodshed of Islam's enemies, which have come to include the Indonesian government and police, the report said.

The threat of vigilantes turning to terrorism follows an effective decade-long crackdown on the country's most notorious networks, such as the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, it added....

Wherever there arises a renewed interest in Sharia, the observable effect is that tolerance decreases and harassment increases, and violent persecution often results with the aim of putting the unbelievers in their supposed place. "Violence against Indonesia’s religious minorities surges -HRW," from by Thin Lei Win for AlertNet, January 24 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

BANGKOK (AlertNet) – Violence against religious minorities surged in Indonesia in 2011, with authorities standing aside and failing to uphold the rule of law as Islamist mobs attacked Christians and Ahmadis, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its annual report on the country.

The report, part of a larger HRW publication monitoring human rights in more than 90 countries, also said violence continued to rack [sic] Papua and West Papua. The report said the authorities used excessive force against peaceful protesters in these Indonesian provinces, where a low-level separatist insurgency has been going on for decades.

Elaine Pearson, the group’s deputy Asia director, said attacks on religious minorities and police violence in Papua “got a lot worse in 2011.”

“The common thread is the failure of the Indonesian government to protect the rights of all its citizens,” she said.

The report said senior government officials, including Minister of Religious Affairs Suryadharma Ali, Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi, and Minister of Human Rights and Law Patrialis Akbar, “continued to justify restrictions on religious freedom in the name of public order.”

Incidents of sectarian violence “got more deadly and more frequent” last year, with 184 cases of religious attacks in the first nine months of 2011, the rights group said. Churches as well as Ahmadi mosques and communities in various places came under assault.

The Ahmadis are followers of a minority Ahmadiyya sect founded in the 19th century. They believe there have been other prophets of Islam since its founder Mohammad, although he is regarded as the most important. Mainstream Muslims consider them heretical, and Ahmadis face increasing threats of violence in many countries including Pakistan and Indonesia.

“Short prison terms for a handful of offenders did nothing to dissuade mob violence,” the report added, pointing to the February incident in western Java when some three Ahmadis were killed and five injured when some 1,500 Islamic militants attacked a house.

The event was caught on film – police officers were shown watching as the mob wreaked havoc – but only 12 men were charged, and none for manslaughter. One of the Ahmadis injured in the attack was later convicted of assault and disobeying police orders.

Is there still actually a government in Jakarta? One could be forgiven for doubting, in yet another episode of the Yasmin Church saga.

The great irony for the Islamic supremacist thugs here is that their prolonged persecution of the Yasmin Church has made it, and its perseverance, known to the world. By trying to make them disappear, they have made them more visible in public life than they ever would have been. That's a great, big "own goal." "Radical Groups Disrupt Yasmin Church Sunday Service," by Vento Saudale for the Jakarta Globe, January 22 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Hundreds of people from various radical groups launched a search on Sunday to find the location of the Yasmin church congregation’s service and prevent them from worshiping. The groups even went to the home of one of the worshipers.

Protesters from the Indonesian Muslim Communication Forum (Forkami) and the Islamic Reform Movement (Garis) surrounded the home where the service was held on Jalan Cempaka no. 10, Taman Yasmin complex in Bogor.

“It crosses the line now. The protesters now come to the residential area, which is not a public place,” politician Lily Wahid, the sister of late president Abdurrahman Wahid, said at the scene.

Police were present to safeguard the house, but the worshipers were unable to leave the home because the mob blocked their way out.

The GKI Yasmin church has been illegally sealed off by the city administration on the pretext that the congregation doctored a petition needed to obtain a building permit.

The congregation has since 2008 been forced to hold Sunday services on the sidewalk outside the church and now in the home of parishioners.

"He is suspected of having blasphemed against Islam." Islamic Tolerance Alert from modern, moderate Indonesia: "Indonesian atheist faces jail after Facebook post," from AFP, January 20 (thanks to Kenneth):

PADANG, Indonesia — An Indonesian civil servant who declared himself an atheist on Facebook was arrested and is now facing jail for blasphemy after being attacked by an angry mob, police said Friday.

Alexander An, 30, who wrote "God doesn't exist" on his Facebook page, was beaten by a mob of dozens on Wednesday in his hometown in Pulau Punjung, West Sumatra province.

"He is suspected of having blasphemed against Islam," local police chief Chairul Aziz told AFP.

"The man told police investigators that if God really exists and has absolute power, why didn't he prevent bad things from happening in this world."

An said on his Facebook page that he was brought up as a Muslim, like the vast majority in Indonesia, where blasphemy is a punishable crime carrying a maximum five-year prison term.

Dozens of locals stormed into his office after a heated debate with them on Facebook over religion, police said.

An was also an administrator of a Facebook group promoting atheism with 1,243 followers. His postings no longer appeared online following his arrest.

"There's still a tendency to see these things in Sunni-Shia terms. But the Middle East is going to have to overcome that." - Condoleezza Rice, January 2007.

Yes, somehow, there's still a tendency to see the Sunni-Shi'ite conflict as a conflict between Sunnis and Shi'ites. We have seen outbreaks of persecution of Shi'ites in Pakistan, and this case only further drives home the point that while the conflict originated in the Middle East, it is a religious conflict that transcends geography. Hence the difficulty over the past millennium or so in "overcoming that."

Perhaps they could call it progress if both parties just accused each other of Islamophobia, put out some petulant press releases, and sued one another. "East Java: a growing tension between Sunni and Shiite, fears of a conflict," by Mathias Hariyadi for Asia News, January 19:

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - In the province of East Java there is a growing tension between the majority Sunni and minority Shiite Muslims. Human rights and interfaith dialogue activists have launched appeals for calm and call the police to ensure safety. However, a local fringe of the Nadhlatul Ulama (NU) - the most important moderate Muslim movement in Indonesia – is also invoking the intervention of the police to arrest the leader of the Shiite communities on the island of Madura. They claim he must be "kicked out" from the area, because he foments sectarian divisions and promotes a distorted view of Islam.

Since January 17 tension between Sunnis and Shiites in the island of Madura has been growing, which could lead to a "conflict" open. The Nu leader of the province of East Java (Pwnu Jatim) Kiai Hajj Mutawakil Alallah appeals to the police to "arrest" Kiai Hajj Tajul muluk, religious leader of the Shiite community in Nangkernang, in the sub-district Ombeg, Sampang regency, Madura. Police, they say, should not only target those who continue – since the end of 2011 - to attack the Shiite community of Madura, but also those who promote interfaith discord and, in particular, Tajul muluk whose teaching is "illegal" as defined by the same Nu and members of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI).

Meanwhile, several groups committed to defending human rights activists and interfaith dialogue, unlike the Sunni leader Kiai Hajj Mutawakil Alallah, ask the police to protect the security of Shiite leader Tajul muluk and restore peace within the Islamic community. Aan Anshori, Nu a young scholar of East Java, does not hide their concerns.

Indonesia, he explains to AsiaNews, shows more flaws in the protection of religious freedom and the province of East Java is revealed as the "most violent" territories of the archipelago, as evidenced by the wave of violence against the Ahmadis. He concludes: since the death of former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, the "spirit of tolerance is in steep decline."

Indonesia is markedly more relaxed in its approach to homegrown Islamic supremacist thugs (see also: the church saga in Bogor) than ones with international connections, though they have shown a rather soft touch at times in the latter case as well.

As long as the local groups focusing on harassing Christians and Ahmadis, intervention has just not seemed that urgent. But the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) may have finally overreached in stoning the Home Affairs Ministry.

What the government actually does may be another story. It is just as likely that there will be talks between the FPI and the government that will reach an understanding, and everyone will come out smiling -- especially the FPI. "Government Threatens to Freeze Hard-Line Islamic Groups After Ministry Attacked," by Camelia Pasandaran for the Jakarta Globe, January 12:

The Indonesian government signaled that it may finally act against the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) after a mob stoned the Home Affairs Ministry in a shocking attack in Central Jakarta on Thursday.

Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi told the Jakarta Globe that the ministry would “evaluate” both the FPI and fringe Islamic People’s Forum (FUI) — which has been vocal in the campaign against the GKI Yasmin church in Bogor — on Friday.

He said the evaluation could result in a freeze on the activities of the FUI and FPI, which continues to wage what it claims is a moral crusade, often in direct contravention of Indonesian law.

“We have decided to take two courses of action,” Gamawan told the Globe. “First, we have already asked law enforcement to investigate the case and charge those responsible for the attack. Secondly, we’re going to evaluate the organizations, which might lead to freezing the organization concerning the act of anarchy.”

Few members of the group, often condemned as a group of thugs, ever face charges for their often violent stand-over tactics. The few that have only receive light sentences.

The Islamic Defenders Front demands a ban on alcohol, the Muslim way: with a near-riot, vandalism, and threats of jihad. And what about the sizable number of non-Muslims in Indonesia, who may want to drink alcohol? Pah! Who cares about them?

"Indonesia Islamic group rallies to demand alcohol ban," from Reuters, January 12:

JAKARTA | Thu Jan 12, 2012 8:18am EST (Reuters) - Hundreds of members of Indonesia's Islamic Defenders Front FPI.L rallied in the capital on Thursday to press the government to ban alcohol as part of its drive to turn the fourth largest country in the world into an Islamic state.

Indonesia is a secular state with the world's biggest population of Muslims, most of whom are moderate.

How Reuters defines "moderate" they have never bothered to explain.

The FPI protest group has in recent years raided bars, nightclubs and the office of Indonesia's Playboy magazine, though it has had limited success in achieving its central aims.

It is separate from a series of small, banned militant groups, some of which are affiliated with al Qaeda and have carried out bomb attacks. An attack on nightclubs in Bali in 2002 killed more than 200 people.

The FPI on Thursday protested against a plan by the interior ministry to revoke anti-alcohol bylaws in several areas of Indonesia on the grounds that the laws were in violation of Islamic sharia law.

Some of the protesters outside the interior ministry in the city's main square wore white robes with the word "mujahideen" emblazoned on their shirts.

"President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono must issue a decree to ban alcohol and to cut alcohol distribution in Indonesia to zero percent," said FPI field coordinator Awit Mashuri.

"We will defend anti-alcohol bylaws and we will fight anything that is against the interests of Islam in Indonesia," Zulfi Syukur told the cheering crowd, many of whom pumped their fists in the air and shouted "jihad", or holy war.

Later, some people at the rally vandalised a security post outside the interior ministry and threw plastic bottles, according to Reuters witnesses....

It's a Religion of Peace, and if you ask us to behave as if it is, we'll attack you -- this appears to be a guiding principle of the Islamic Reform Movement. "Bumper Sticker Sparks New Clash at Indonesian Church," by Vento Saudale for the Jakarta Globe, January 2:

Bogor. A bumper sticker prompted members of the hard-line Islamic Reform Movement to attack several members of the GKI Yasmin church on Sunday.

The bumper sticker, on the back of a church member’s car, said, “We need a friendly Islam, not an angry Islam.”

Scores of vociferous Muslims from the group known as the Islamic Reform Movement (Garis) terrorized members of the congregation who came to the church’s New Year’s Eve service in Bogor, GKI Yasmin spokesman Bona Sigalingging said.

Garis chairman Majudien was infuriated by the sticker and began to run after the car. The incident led the congregation to disband and move the service to the home of one of the members.

“What is the aim of that sticker being put there? That is a provocative action against us, the Muslims of Bogor,” Majudien said.

Bona said that the sticker was a souvenir that was distributed by the family of the late former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid during a commemoration of his death on Friday.

“All guests who came, including the chairman of the Constitutional Court, the deputy religious affairs minister and other VIPs also got the same souvenir, the same sticker,” he said.

On Sunday, the mob from Garis shouted at church members when they began to arrive but were prevented from physical contact by hundreds of police officers who separated the congregation from the crowd.

Lawmaker Indah Kurnia on Sunday said that cases of intolerance like in Bogor should not be allowed to continue and called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to intervene.

“There is no need to just say that the green light had been given; the evidence is that the congregation cannot worship at its church,” Indah said....

The church has been illegally sealed off by the city administration on the pretext that the congregation doctored a petition needed to obtain a building permit. The congregation has since 2008 been forced to hold Sunday services on the sidewalk outside the church.

Actually it looks as if the perps were Sunni Wahhabis. Odd. We hear so much more about "Islamophobes," and yet those who are accused of that particular trumped-up malady never seem to do any acts of violence to rival those committed by Islamic jihadists.

"Shia Islamic Boarding School Torched, Police Do Nothing: Allegation," from the Jakarta Globe, December 29:

A Shia-run Islamic boarding school was set ablaze by an a group from a rival branch of Islam in East Java on Thursday.

The Islamic boarding school (pesantren), Tajul Muluk in Sampang district, was destroyed but there are no reports of injuries. The pesantren houses about 100 male and female students.

“We suspect the incident was carried out by a group of Wahabis who are also suspected of burning the house of one of the school’s teachers two weeks ago,” said Ahmad Hidayat, the secretary general of Islamic organization Ahlul Bait Indonesia.

In the previous incident, the attackers locked the door of the home shut before setting the house on fire, with the occupants lucky to escape with their lives.

Ahmad said security forces had failed to act after the first attack.

Moh. Hadun Hadear, another member of ABI, told BeritaSatu that a prior to the latest attack there had been rumors of the looming incident and despite appeals to the police for help, nothing had been done.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution denied allegations that police had let the attacks occur.

“The police have tried to visit the location. But we were intercepted by a mob,“ Saud said....

Uh huh.

Once again, is there still a government in Jakarta? The Yasmin Church of Bogor has a supreme court decision on its side, but the mayor and local thugs have stood in their way with impunity. It is standard operating procedure for Jakarta to turn a blind eye to homegrown abuse of non-Muslims, for that is the path of least resistance.

An update on this story. "Embattled Indonesian Church Forced to Celebrate Christmas in Private Home," by Vento Saudale for the Jakarta Globe, December 26 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Bogor. The congregation of the embattled GKI Yasmin church in Bogor was forced to move its Christmas prayers to a member’s house after Islamic groups assembled at the disputed site and threatened to challenge the sermon on Sunday.

The service was slated to start at 9 a.m. in the sealed church on Jalan Abdullah bin Nuh, but the congregants went elsewhere after members of the Indonesian Muslim Communication Forum (Forkami), the Islamic Reform Movement (Garis) and the Bogor Muslim Community (KMB) objected to that plan.

The opposition protestors came to the church in the morning and shouted to guarding police officers and members of the public order agency (Satpol PP) to expel the congregation.

“On December 23, they were given a letter stating that they are banned from holding a prayer here. The letter clearly mentioned they can’t hold the service,” Forkami head Ahmad Iman said.

Garis head Majudien threatened to deploy his members to the location in a mass Muslim gathering known as tabligh akbar should the Yasmin congregation insist on holding the service there.

Police blocked the roads around the church and diverted traffic to other roads for security reasons.

The modest Christmas service was attended by Lily Wahid and Inayah Wahid, sister and daughter of the late president Abdurrahman Wahid, as well as representatives from GP Ansor, the youth wing of Indonesia’s largest Muslim group Nahdlatul Ulama, and the Asian Muslim Action Network.

A number of veiled female Muslims were seen at the scene distributing flowers to express support for religious freedom.

Inayah said the groups who continued to pressure the Yasmin congregation didn’t represent the true spirit of Islam, saying that the Prophet Mohammed himself lived in harmony, side by side with Christians and Jews in Medina.

For as long as he had to.

“Now the diversity of Indonesia can be seen at this small house,” Inayah said.

The letter issued by controversial Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto ordered Yasmin to move its service to a public building near the contested church, but the congregation refused to obey on the grounds that the building was not a worship venue.

There has been an ongoing ploy to attempt to entice the congregation to give in and move the site.

“It seems that Diani Budiarto issued the letter to confront Yasmin’s congregation against those intolerant mass,” church spokesman Bona Sigalingging said.

The mayor earlier ordered the closure of the church, arguing that the founders had falsified signatures in the process to acquire a city permit.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the mayor must reopen the church, but the city government has continued to deny the congregation access to the building.

The central government has thus far failed to take a clear stance on the dispute.

They were held incommunicado from their families and kept away from school and work for ten days. They have completed their ten-day detention, but are not free. There will evidently be follow-up indoctrination, and they remain under the thumb of authorities.

Is there still a government in Jakarta? One could be forgiven for doubting. The Indonesian government remains content to take the path of least resistance -- that is, of not resisting -- against Islamic supremacism and attempts to impose Sharia. Left unchecked, the brutality of Sharia is gradually consuming the country. Aceh is semi-autonomous, but allowing it to go further and further off the rails without comment will only embolden like-minded movements within the rest of Indonesia.

"Aceh punk rock fans face more indoctrination," from Deutsche Presse Agentur, December 24 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Banda Aceh, Indonesia - Punk rock fans in Indonesia's staunchly Muslim province of Aceh were relieved that a 10-day re-education programme finally ended, but further brainwashing efforts may await them.

Sixty-five punk rock enthusiasts on Friday completed a 10-day rehabilitation programme at a police school, aimed at persuading them to do away with their distinctive lifestyles.

Police arrested the 60 males and five females at a concert that authorities said lacked a permit this month.

The prior report linked above said they group had permission from the city. Was this a set-up? Authorities certainly seemed to know exactly what they wanted to do with the detainees.

Officers buzzed off the punkers' mohawks, removed their piercings and dog chains and forced them to bathe in a lake in a traditional cleansing ceremony normally practiced by cadets.

Authorities are considering further rehabilitation programmes for the youngsters, with the aim of converting them into 'Islamic punkers.'

'On Monday, we'll talk about what they need further,' said Illiza Sa'aduddin Djamal, deputy mayor of provincial capital Banda Aceh.

'We'll turn the kids into Islamic punkers,' she said late Friday. 'They are free to express themselves as long as it's within Islamic boundaries.'

She said authorities would conduct a regular patrol to monitor the behaviour of the youths.

At the 'graduation ceremony' on Friday, the youths were asked to perform a rock song on the stage. Many of them cried as they belted out 'Film Murahan.'

One of them, Rian Rizki Ramadan, said he opposed the deputy mayor's proposal.

'We don't need more guidance,' he said. 'Ten days at the police school is enough.'

Junaidi Edward, 19, said he would remain a punker.

'Punk is not dead!' he screamed.

But Wahyu Karamullah, 20, said he was now a better person and was happy to return to his family.

'I learned a lot in the past 10 days,' he said. 'I learned to pray in a congregation and I have become more disciplined.'

One of them claimed he was not a member of punk community and feared he could lose his job in Medan, the capital of neighbouring North Sumatra province.

'What about my job? I don't know if I can get it back,' he said.

'Is it true he's not a punk kid?' the deputy mayor asked.

The group answered in unison: 'No, he's not!' [...]

Aceh imposes a form of Islamic law under special autonomy granted to the province as part of central government efforts to pacify a clamour for independence.

The government signed a peace deal with the Free Aceh Movement in 2005, ending decades of conflict that left more than 15,000 dead.

Indonesia routinely takes the path of least resistance with its homegrown Islamic supremacist thugs, and the path of least resistance is to offer them little to no resistance in response, even offering compromises. But those who persecute Christians, Hindus, Ahmadis, and others with near impunity will eventually turn on the state that has enabled them if they become sufficiently strong.

In the meantime, Bogor continues to be a major center for the persecution of Christians, and the permit system for building houses of worship continues to be the principal vehicle for finding excuses to abuse them.

Indonesia saw many similar cases of harassment and intimidation last Christmas, and this year threatens more of the same. "West Java: Islamic extremist groups threaten Catholics, Christmas celebrations at risk," by Mathias Hariyadi for Asia News, December 23:

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Islamic fundamentalist groups in Parung, Bogor regency, West Java province, are threatening and "warning" the local Catholic community, victims of attacks in anticipation of the holiday season. At the risk of the celebration of Masses and religious services, especially with regard to the faithful of the parish of St. John the Baptist, long the center of a dispute between Christians and Muslims that revolves around the building construction permit.

They celebrated last year's Christmas Mass in a parking lot.

A statement published by the "Parung Society of Muslim" emphasizes the "strong support" of the stance of the Govenor of Bogor regency, who opposes the plan to build a church for the faithful of the parish of St. John the Baptist. Again, the controversy revolves around the infamous IMB - the Izin mendirikan bangunan - essential for any contrustion in Indonesia and even more difficult to obtain when it comes to a place of Christian worship.

Speaking to AsiaNews Fr Benny Susetyo Pr, Executive Secretary of the Indonesian Bishops Conference (KWI), speaks of "unfriendly methods" of Islamic fundamentalists, who end up "undermining the spirit of Pancasila", the guiding principles of the state that promote religious freedom, multiculturalism and unity in diversity. The priest also points the finger at local government officials, who have never wanted to find an agreement on the matter that concerns the place of worship.

There is also a Pancasila revisionist movement, however, based on the assertion that "The first principle of the Jakarta Charter, which was ultimately incorporated into the preamble of the constitution, was the 'obligation for all followers to observe Shariah law.' It was later changed to 'Belief in the one and only God,' by then-Vice President Mohammad Hatta."

In recent days, members of the Muslim Parung demonstrated against what they call "illegal" construction of a church, which actually has had a permit for six years and is home to the functions of the local Catholic community of the village of Waru. Last year, fundamentalist groups have prevented the celebration of Christmas functions, the faithful have had to move elsewhere to avoid new attacks during the services.

I was on the nonpareil Michael Coren's Sun TV show tonight, discussing that alleged bastion of peaceful Islam, modern moderate Indonesia.

Video thanks to Vlad Tepes.

According to the detainees who were interviewed, they are missing school, and they cannot contact their parents. Jakarta, which consistently takes the path of least resistance with homegrown "extremism," may or may not be motivated to rein in the proliferating abuses in Sharia-ruled Aceh.

An update on this story. "‘Punk’s Not Dead’ Despite Aceh Arrests," by Nurdin Hasan & Dessy Sagita for the Jakarta Globe, December 17 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Banda Aceh. Amid rows of youths dressed in police uniforms, 15-year-old Arismunadar kept his head bowed and answered in brief snatches when questioned about his treatment at the police camp in Lembah Seulawah, Aceh Besar district.

The high school student from Medan, North Sumatra, is among 64 punk music lovers undergoing “re-education” in the camp, about 60 kilometers from the provincial capital, after they were arrested last Saturday night.

They were taken to the camp after spending three nights in the Banda Aceh Police jail, where they were held after being arrested at a punk music charity concert they had organized with permission from city authorities.

A set-up?

Arismunadar said his parents gave him permission to make the weekend trip north to Banda Aceh but he was upset and worried because he could not contact them.

“I don’t know what my parents’ reaction will be when they find out I have been taken here,” he said. “I want to talk to them but I can’t because the police have taken our mobile phones.”

Arismunadar said he was also worried about missing school, for which being taught by police “how to march in line and act politely” was little consolation.

Asked whether he would change his ways after the 10 days of camp detention, Arismunadar said, “I will still be a punk because I like it.”

M. Fauzie, one of the camp’s instructors, said the youths were being taught spiritual, moral and behavioral lessons. “We will teach them to wake up early, how to eat properly and how to behave politely,” he said.

On Friday morning, a Muslim cleric council delegation visited the camp and delivered a religious lecture to the youths, most of them in their twenties. At prayer time, police forced the detainees to don traditional Muslim dress and drove them in trucks to a nearby mosque.

There was little sign of a mass conversion to religious piety after the prayers, however.

They may well teach them to hate prayers, hate religion, hate Muhammad, and hate Allah.

“Punk’s not dead!” shouted Andre, 18, after being forced back onto the truck for the trip back to the police camp.

Andre, from Binjai in neighboring North Sumatra, said he was sick of the “re-education.”

“I’ll still be a punk when they let me go, because it’s my chosen life,” he said, adding that he had lived on the streets since he was young. “They can’t change the path I’ve taken.”

One of the female detainees, 20-year-old Intan Natalia, emphasized the creative spirit of the punk community.

“Punks are not about criminality,” said the Medan native. “Don’t look at us from a negative perspective, because we work, too. We create unique tattoos, T-shirt designs and piercings.”

She said she cried when her long, straight hair was cut in the style of female police officers.

“But what else could I do? If I protested, nobody would listen,” she said. “So I had to take it quietly while my beloved hair was chopped short.”

Intan, who was previously a university student in Jakarta, said she had been a punk since 2009 and enjoyed the feeling of solidarity it engendered. She went to Banda Aceh for the charity concert and said she was shocked when police raided the event.

“While the event was underway, we were suddenly arrested,” she said with a frown. “I don’t know why, because we hadn’t broken any laws.”

Aldi, 17, who makes a living printing T-shirts and stickers, said the “re-education” would not change him.

“After I get out of here I will still be a punk because I like the punk lifestyle,” he said. “I’m not a criminal and stealing is not part of punk ethos. If I was a thief, why would I be a punk?”

Arist Merdeka Sirait, chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak), said the detention without charge, the head shaving, the dousing ritual and the military-style treatment of the youths at the hands of the police was a breach of human rights.

“Is there a clause in the criminal code that makes self-expression in the punk style a crime? Then show me! This is too much,” he said.

Speaking in Jakarta on Friday, he said the youths were at risk of lasting trauma.

He also scoffed at a statement by Banda Aceh Deputy Mayor Illiza Sa’aduddin Djamal that punk culture was a social disease that stained Islam’s reputation....

For these people, piety means destroying the religious symbols of other religions. "Central Java: statue of the Virgin decapitated," by Mathias Hariyadi for Asia News, December 15 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

The act of vandalism occurred last night in Sendag Prawito (Semarang Archdiocese), in a small chapel devoted to Our Lady. A cross was also stolen and some religious objects were destroyed. The archbishop demands Christians be protected during the Christmas period.

Semarang (AsiaNews) – Last night, vandals decapitated the statue of the Virgin Mary in a small grotto in Sendag Prawito, Tawangmangu, Semarang Archdiocese (Central Java). A cross was stolen and the aspersorium was badly damaged.

“This brutal action has strongly affected the Catholic community,” Mgr Johannes Pujasumarta, archbishop of Semarang, told AsiaNews.

“Security Forces must do their duty without showing any preference for Muslims or Christians in a religiously pluralistic country based on the principles of Pancasila, which are still the foundations on which the nation is built,” the prelate said in an appeal to local authorities to provide Christians with security during the Christmas period....

That's unlikely.

"Morality" policing is a cheap and lazy way for a government to look busy and effective. It is a tool of intimidation and political pandering where Sharia has tied the right to rule to Islamic piety.

As even Imam Rauf knows, Sharia is a package deal, and its reach into every area of life sets up practical problems for limitations on the power to enforce it. The letter of the law is bad enough, and then there is the corrupting influence of power. "Hard-line Indonesian police shave punkers' mohawks," by Fukhrurradzie Gade for the Associated Press, December 14:

Police in Indonesia's most conservative province raided a punk-rock concert and detained 65 fans, buzzing off their spiky mohawks and stripping away body piercings because of the perceived threat to Islamic values.

Dog-collar necklaces and chains also were taken from the youths before they were thrown in pools of water for "spiritual" cleansing, local police chief Iskandar Hasan said Wednesday.

How long until one of his rivals decides that had baptismal overtones and goes after him for shirk and bida?

After replacing their "disgusting" clothes, he handed each a toothbrush and barked "use it."

The crackdown marked the latest effort by authorities to promote strict moral values in Aceh, the only province in this secular but predominantly Muslim nation of 240 million to have imposed Islamic laws.

Here, adultery is punishable by stoning to death. Homosexuals have been thrown in jail or lashed in public with rattan canes. Women are forced to wear headscarves and told, please, no tight pants.

It's not clear why police decided to hone in on punks.

Aceh's hostility to punk rock is nothing new.

Though pierced and tattooed teens have complained for months about harassment, Saturday's roundup at a concert attended by more than 100 people was by far the biggest and most dramatic bust yet.

Baton-wielding police scattered fans, many of whom had traveled from other parts of the sprawling archipelagic nation to attend the show.

Hasan said 59 young men and five women were loaded into vans and brought to a police detention center 30 miles (60 kilometers) from the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.

They would spend 10 days getting rehabilitation, training in military-style discipline and religious classes, including Quran recitation, he said. Afterward, they'll be sent home.

Twenty-year-old punker, Fauzan, was mortified.

"Why? Why my hair?!" he said, pointing to his cleanly shaven head. "We didn't hurt anyone. This is how we've chosen to express ourselves. Why are they treating us like criminals?"

The women, some in tears, were given short, blunt bobs.

Hasan insisted he'd done nothing wrong.

"We're not torturing anyone," the police chief said. "We're not violating human rights. We're just trying to put them back on the right moral path."

However, Nur Kholis, a national human commissioner, deplored the detentions, saying police have to explain what kinds of criminal laws have been broken.

"Otherwise, they violated people's right of gathering and expression," Kholis said, promising to investigate.

Aceh — where Islam first arrived in Indonesia from Saudi Arabia centuries ago — enjoys semiautonomy from the central government....

From this story:

"The Supreme Court ruled in December 2010 that the closure was unlawful and ordered its reopening, but the city administration continues to ignore the ruling. Mayor Diani Budiarto has used several excuses to keep the church closed, most recently saying there should not be a Christian church on a street with an Islamic name."

By all appearances, the Interior Ministry has no qualms about rewarding the mayor for defying a supreme court order. Its proposal is emblematic of the country's approach to rising Islamic supremacism and the thuggery of groups like the Islamic Defenders Front in recent years: in all cases, take the path of least resistance.

"Bogor: offer to move church may be "a fatal trap"," by Mathias Hariyadi for AsiaNews, December 13:

Bogor (AsiaNews) - The Indonesian Ministry of Interior has put forward a way to end the controversy over the construction of the Yasmin Church: namely, to propose three alternative locations to the Church Council (GKI) compared to the initial site, which generated the dispute . But the Church of Yasmin Council says that changing the site is not the solution, but only adds a new chapter to a new problem.

They know better than to think that would be the end of the story, especially if it is the mayor's proposal. New complications would be invented. They might be told to start the process all over again for a permit at the new address.

This has the appearance of another delaying tactic to keep Yasmin Church from ever operating normally, in a backdoor enforcement of Sharia's prohibition on building or repairing churches, which is also the practical effect of the execrable permit system itself.

Opposition to the church building stemmed originally from the Mayor of Bogor, Diani Budiarto, who opposes the construction and now this opposition is supported by the Interior Minister Gamawan Fauzi, who said today to agree with Budiarto’s proposal: namely move the construction of the church to another place. According to Fauzi, the authorities in West Java have offered three sites that could be used for Yasmin Church, as an alternative to the place in dispute.

Yasmin Church spokesman, Bona Sigalingging however, tells AsiaNews that this option is not a solution to the problem, namely civil disobedience by Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto. Even if the authorities in West Java offered three different locations free of charge, as announced by the Minister of the Interior, the GKI would not accept the offer. "We will not accept any proposal of that type. In our opinion, any offer to move the site of the church is illegal. " Bona complained about a series of "infringements of the law" committed by the Interior Ministry, which overlook the verdict issued by the Indonesian Supreme Court. "The state, of which the Interior Ministry is part, must apply the law, and not the opposite, offering alternative solutions to end the dispute," he said.

The GKI’s strong opposition to the relocation project is based on two basic reasons, according to Sigalingging. The first is of a legal nature, neither the Ombudsman nor the Indonesian Supreme Court has ever issued an option to place the construction of the Church elsewhere. Then there is a historical reason. The faithful of Citeking to Bekasi in West Java, received the offer to relocate the permanent site of the church in a hall owned by the local authority from Bekasi authorities. But the continuity of Sunday services is becoming uncertain.

"We will never accept this offer, because it could be a fatal trap for a religious minority group. The faithful have received the promise of Citeking local authorities to have their church, but so far the promise has vanished in the wind. " He also rejects claims by followers of Budiarto, that the Yasmin Church used false signatures for the permit and says this must be brought to the attention of the judges. "It is absolutely immoral and illegal that a charge based on false arguments become the basis of the government's decision to move the site of construction," says the spokesman of the Church Yasmin....

Once again, this is a fight over permits. The permit system for houses of worship in Indonesia is one example of a crafty form of legislation in Muslim countries: laws that have the practical effect of allowing the enforcement of Sharia without the international and domestic political liability of spelling it out.

Other examples include the "wealth tax" on non-Muslims in Turkey, Algeria's law on building churches, and Egypt's proposed law on houses of worship. The latter two laws function similarly to Indonesia's in that they leave the non-Muslim minority at the mercy of the Muslim majority to obtain permission to build. Sharia, after all, forbids the building of new churches and the repair of old ones.

Even after the churches are built, they are not safe: the "extremist group" in this story resents the fact that a few slipped through the cracks, and is looking for the "Undo" button. "Central Java, Islamic extremists against Christians: five churches at risk demolition," by Mathias Hariyadi for Asia News, December 5:

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - An Islamic extremist group in Pracimantoro, a town in the district of Wonogiri, in central Java, has appealed to local government for the demolition of five Protestant churches in the area. The alarm is launched by Theophilus Bela, human rights activist and promoter of interfaith dialogue, according to whom that the fundamentalists complaint claims the Christian communities lack the building permits (IMB) for places of worship. The tension in the area is steadily increasing, and rumors of threats of demolition, circulating since yesterday evening in a series of documents, is not contributing to calming tempers. Previously, adds the Christian activist, extremist threats have focused on nine other churches in Bekasi regency, West Java.

The procedure for the construction of a church in Indonesia - Catholic or Protestant - is complicated and it can take five to ten years to obtain all required permits. The procedure is governed by the Izin Mendirikan Bangunan (IMB), a written resolution that allows the opening of a building site and is issued by local authorities. The story gets more complicated when it comes to a place of Christian worship: it has to be cleared by a quorum of residents in the area where the building is to be constructed and the local Interreligious Dialogue committee. And "unspecified reasons" that lead officials to block the projects, under pressure from radical Islamic movements often take over.

A document released at the weekend explains the Christian community’s reasons for concern. The Pracimantoro Islamist group is led by a religious who " also holds the post of Head of the local Government Department for Religious Affairs." On December 1, during a committee meeting, it emerged that the Islamic extremist group submitted a demolition request. The five churches, local sources tell, have received authorization to operate from the office for religious affairs of Semarang, the provincial capital, but have not yet been handed over the IMB.

Christians have submitted documentation to the local department of Pracimantoro, but so far officials have purposely avoided evaluating their case or granting the appropriate permissions. Churches waiting to receive permission are: the Pentecostal church in the village of Ngalu Wetana, the All Nations Church in Gebangharjo, the Protestant Church in Javanese Godang, the Bethel Tabernacle Church, also in Gebangharjo and finally, the Christian Nazareth Church in Lebak.

First, the congregation of Indonesian Christians continues to exist. The next thing you know, they'll want to continue to exist with dignity in peace and security. The unmitigated gall!

More on the unending saga of the Yasmin Church in Bogor, which has involuntarily found itself at the heart of Indonesia's permit system charade, which is nothing but a backdoor implementation of Sharia to prevent the construction and repair of non-Muslim houses of worship.

"Hundreds Turn Out for Bogor Rally to Denounce Besieged Yasmin Church," by
Vento Saudale for the Jakarta Globe, November 28 (thanks to Kenneth):

Bogor. Hundreds of hard-line Muslims rallied outside the Bogor City Hall on Sunday to decry the “arrogance” of a beleaguered church in the city that remains shuttered by authorities despite a Supreme Court order to open it.

The protesters, from Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia and the Indonesian Muslim Communication Forum (Forkami), said they wanted to show that all Muslims were united in opposition to the presence of the GKI Yasmin Church in the city.

“We’re here to refute the arrogance of the church, which continues to insist on setting up in the Taman Yasmin [housing complex],” said Achmad Imam, the Forkami head in Bogor.

The Bogor administration issued a building permit for the church in 2006, but it revoked it two years later, alleging the church had falsified the signatures required to obtain it.

The Supreme Court ruled in December 2010 that the closure was unlawful and ordered its reopening, but the city administration continues to ignore the ruling. Mayor Diani Budiarto has used several excuses to keep the church closed, most recently saying there should not be a Christian church on a street with an Islamic name.

Church members have been forced to hold services on the sidewalk.

Imam said the mayor had the full support of the local Muslim community in facing down the “lies and tricks of the church members and their supporters, who are trying to pit Muslims against one another through this issue.”

The local branch of the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) also got into the act on Sunday, with branch chairman Muhyiddin Junaidi saying it would be “wise and sensible” for the church to yield to “the feelings of the local believers, specifically Muslims.”

At the sealed-off church, meanwhile, the congregation was prevented from holding services for another week when a group of motorcycle taxi (ojek) drivers blocked off the sidewalk.

The ojek drivers claimed that because the Yasmin congregation had been praying on the sidewalk, they were left with nowhere to park and were thus losing business.

In this case, the violation does not concern the usual permit system that stacks the deck against non-Muslim houses of worship. This incident seems to involve a convenient technicality, as Indonesia tightens the screws against the Ahmadi sect across the country: in several provinces, they are banned outright.

Also noteworthy is the matter-of-fact statement that the thugs from the Islamic Defenders Front will be "monitoring" the mosque and reporting to the city administration. Allowing the Front to operate as an independent militia, let alone accepting its "services," will come back to haunt the Indonesian government, should the group become too strong and entrenched in society to control.

"City closes Ahmadi mosque, denies religious prejudice," by Andreas D. Arditya for the Jakarta Post, November 19 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

The Jakarta administration denies any religious predilection in sealing off an Ahmadiyah mosque in East Jakarta this week.

Jakarta Deputy Governor Prijanto said that mosque was shut down because it violated a building permit.

Prijanto did not consider that the Ahmadis had unsuccessfully proposed to the local administration to convert the building permit from a private residence to a public building.

The Ahmadis had held religious services there for 21 years.

“Our local official sealed the building off after sending warning letters,” Prijanto told reporters at City Hall on Friday.

On Thursday, officials from the East Jakarta Building Supervisory Agency (P2B) and the City Public Order closed down At-Taqwa mosque after claiming that the owners of the premises had misused the building permit issued for the premises.

Prijanto said that issues regarding the Islamic sect had been decided by the central government through a ministerial decree.

The head of the East Jakarta branch of the Ahmadiyah, Aryudi Muhammad Shadiq, said the management of the mosque was fully aware of the building violation.

Aryudi said that they had been proposing to the local administration to convert the building permit from that for a private residence to one for a public building, but to no avail.

He questioned the city administration’s decision to seal off the mosque after allowing it to remain open for the past 21 years.

Following the closing of the mosque, a local Islam Defenders Front (FPI) branch said that they would monitor the sect’s activity and report to the city administration should the sect continue performing their religious services there.

It is unclear if this next section is intended to allude to the FPI:

Separately on Friday, Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Untung Suharsono Radjab held a meeting with a number of mass organizations, including those notorious for their violent behavior, in Central Jakarta.

Untung said that the meeting was to seek input from the organizations regarding security issues in the capital. The police chief warned that members of any organization who resorted to violence and violated the law would be penalized. “We will process them according to the law.”

Three years ago, the central government issued a joint ministerial decree banning members of the Ahmadiyah Indonesia Congregation (JAI) from propagating their religious beliefs, but allowed them to maintain their faith and perform their daily religious duties.

The decree was followed by a number of regional administrations issuing bans to prevent members of the Ahmadiyah sect from practicing their faith in public.

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo also planned to issue a similar ban, but backtracked after realizing that such bylaws were illegal.

Creeping Sharia, just outside of Jakarta. Customers wield immense power where advertising is concerned, and may always vote with their pocketbooks where it crosses lines of decency or stupidity. Wouldn't it be more impressive than a ban if pious residents of Depok took their business elsewhere en masse? That would achieve a more lasting social change.

Here, the government has found this a suitable way to look busy on the taxpayer dime, taking measures tantamount to swatting a fly with a sledgehammer. And it has stated in so many words its intention to implement more Sharia.

One must wonder how long the lines of young men became to apply for the job as Discerner of Sexy Ads, or a Saudi censor with a black marker, or a valiant fighter in the Somali Bra-Spotting Jihad. Any prospective "Virtue and Vice" officer who looks too eager probably has to go to the back of the line.

"Ad Billboards Featuring 'Sexy' Women Banned in Depok," from the Jakarta Globe, November 12:

The municipal government of Depok, one of Jakarta’s satellite cities, banned advertisement billboards featuring ‘sexy’ women this month.

What about men?

The deputy mayor of Depok, Abdul Somad, said the policy was adopted because one of Depok’s missions is to become a religious city.

A few weeks ago, Depok officials took down a deodorant ad billboard featuring a woman showing her underarm. They deemed the advertisement to be "sexy."

Did they put it to a vote?

“The limit between what is moral and immoral is closely related to the culture and personality of the city. For example, when I was on vacation in London, I saw a billboard featuring a woman wearing very little clothing and there’s nothing wrong with that because the London dwellers are OK with it, but it may not apply here [Depok],” Abdul told news portal Okezone.com.

He welcomes debate or discussion regarding the policy.

“It is closely related to the debate of what constitutes pornography. The limit is not clear and it is very debatable,” he said, adding that different cities may have different policies.

Depok, located 20 kilometers south of Jakarta, is led by a politician from the Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), Nur Machmudi Ismail. The mayor is known for his campaign to transform Depok into a religious city.

Last year, he banned karaoke establishments and closed at least five big karaoke parlors located in the city center, stating that those places could be used for “negative” activities such as prostitution.

For as often as allegations or threats of the proliferation of prostitution are made for the sake of imposing Sharia, one would almost think cities like this must make Times Square look like Sesame Street.

This is the same mayor who earlier decided that churches can't be built on streets with "Islamic" names. How higher levels of government respond to this latest escalation will determine whether we see more officials like Mayor Budiarto emerge in Indonesia. Behavior that is rewarded by inaction is likely to be repeated and intensified, as Budiarto's own track record in Bogor has shown.

"Moderate" Indonesia is paralyzed with indecision for the sake of saving face: it does not want to make a high-profile, public decision that would stop Muslims from enforcing Sharia over the constitution. It wants legislation that looks good on paper, and to have the dust settle quietly in practical matters at some point. When Islamic supremacists gain sufficient strength, the legislation will catch up.

"Bogor: mayor shuts down access roads to Yasmin Church, thus breaking the law," from Asia News, November 14:

Bogor (AsiaNews) – Bogor Christians celebrated Mass at home yesterday. After the ban on meeting at their church, members of the Yasmin Church (KGI) were not allowed to hold their Sunday service in the street. Despite criticism and international focus on the case, Bogor Mayor Diano Budiarto continues to refuse to bow to public opinion and a court order. In his latest action, he has exceeded his authority and blocked all access roads to the Yasmin Church. A dozen of local plainclothes security agents and uniformed police did not however prevent anti-Christian extremists from blocking one access road to the place of worship. In the end, Christian worshipers went to the home of a parishioner to celebrate Sunday service.

This is the first time in months that this happens since Budiarto’ decision to freeze the construction of the church despite the fact that the congregation had all the right permits.

In a message to AsiaNews, a KGI spokesman, attorney Bona Sigalingging, said that opposition to the church comes from the Muslim Indonesia Communications Forum (Forkami), an organisation chaired by Ahmad Iman, a local extremist.

In a number of fiery speeches against the Yasmin Church, the latter has claimed that KGI leaders falsified the signatures by residents on the application for a construction permit in order to pursue their goal of building the church.

In Indonesia, a construction permit is necessary and requires a certain number of signatures by local residents before it is issued.

Sigalingging dismissed the charge out of hand. “This accusation is false,” he said.

The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation is expected to act too. Its president, Todung Mulya Lubis, a well-known figure in the human rights field, has written to President Yudhoyono, asking him to exercise his constitutional prerogatives and uphold the law.

The time has come that “you, Mr President apply the law without preferences as stipulated by the constitution and that every citizen comply with the law.”

The Yasmin Church is in a desperate situation, Lubis added, since court orders have been ignored using different legal means in order to revoke the building permit, and that the mayor appears bent on pursing his path, no matter what happens.

“Mr President, you are the last hope for the Yasmin Church to see its rights respected,” Lubis said in his letter.

President Yudhoyono's past comments on violence against Christians over the building with churches have tended to downplay the situation, sounding more like he was discussing a homeowners' association dispute.

When even the reliably dhimmi Time Magazine notices Muslim intolerance and persecution of people of other faiths (and "heretical" Muslims like the Ahmadis), you know the situation has gotten very bad in modern, moderate Indonesia. "The Other Indonesia," by Emily Rauhala in Time Magazine, November 21:

[...] A key measure of the level of justice and compassion in any society is how it treats its minorities — often its most vulnerable citizens. On that score, Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, is failing. In the past year, public violence against religious minorities, who together make up about 12% of the 240 million population, has been relentless: there has been a slew of incidents, from burnings and bombings of churches to attacks by radical Muslims on moderates. The authorities appear unable or unwilling to firmly intervene.

That seemed to be the case when I was in a packed courtroom outside Jakarta a few months ago. On trial were 12 men charged in connection with a mass assault early this year on members of the peaceful Ahmadiyah sect. Ahmadis believe that their Indian founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908) was also a prophet, after Muhammad — a claim orthodox Muslims find heretical. This plus other differences have made Ahmadis a target for hard-liners in Pakistan, Bangladesh and, of late, Indonesia too. The attack on the Ahmadis was brutal. A hundreds-strong crowd gathered at opposite ends of a remote rice-farming village on the western edge of Java and converged on an Ahmadi home. The people inside were surrounded and attacked with machetes, sharpened sticks and stones. Three men died; five were badly injured.

At the trial, before the judges entered the chamber, an Islamic cleric in a white robe stepped from the gallery and led the courtroom in prayer. Those inside — plus many more pressed against the outside gate — prayed for the mob, not those killed. People in the crowd told me the Ahmadis had it coming, that the mob was provoked and the violence spontaneous.

One of the accused, 17-year-old Dani bin Misra, was filmed smashing an Ahmadi man's skull with a rock. He and the other defendants were convicted of "participation in a violent attack that results in casualties." Dani was sentenced to three months' jail. The rest, including two clerics, received five to six months. (By contrast, an Ahmadi got six months for wounding an attacker when defending a family's property.) Said New York City — based Human Rights Watch: "The trial sends the chilling message that attacks on minorities will be treated lightly by the legal system."

I raised the Ahmadiyah verdict with Suryadharma Ali, Indonesia's Minister of Religious Affairs, one of whose responsibilities is to keep the peace among all faiths. Suryadharma was unapologetic in tone: he said Indonesia respects religious freedom, but that minorities could not use that freedom to "completely modify" Islamic beliefs. He also defended regulations that ban Ahmadis from proselytizing or openly practicing their faith. The minister compared antagonism toward Ahmadis to flag burning: "Your country would get angry if you burned their flag. And the case of religion is higher than the flag." Perhaps so, but for Indonesia to be truly the modern, moderate society it claims to be, it needs to show through word and deed that it will not tolerate intolerance.

Sharia-compliant Islamic bonds. The means compliant not just with Sharia's rejection of interest, but with its denial of the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, and the equality of rights of women and non-Muslims. So the posters above can kick off the ad campaign. "Indonesia to Sell Seven-Year Global Islamic Bonds Today," by Elffie Chew for Bloomberg, November 14:

Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesia plans to sell seven-year Shariah-compliant bonds today, helping the nation revive Islamic debt sales amid the slowest half in three years....

Indonesia’s sales of sukuk, which pay returns on assets to comply with Islam’s ban on interest, dropped this half to the least since 970 billion rupiah in the first six months of 2008, according data compiled by Bloomberg. Global offerings reached $19.6 billion this year, up from $14.3 billion in the same period of 2010, the data show. Average yields on the debt dropped 94 basis points in 2011 to 3.80 percent on Nov. 11, according to the HSBC/NASDAQ Dubai US Dollar Sukuk Index....

Will the attacker be found? How much time will he serve? Or will the victim, if he survives, be charged for having had a machete for cutting wood? There is already a precedent for it, from the last high-profile wave of anti-Ahmadi violence.

Many provinces in Modern, Moderate Indonesia have essentially blamed the victims for existing, and have moved to make Ahmadis invisible non-persons. Other Ahmadis in the shelter described in this story cannot return to their homes or register as residents, and the government has cut off assistance to them because -- you guessed it -- they are officially non-residents.

"Sickening Attack Leaves Disabled Ahmadi Severely Injured." from the Jakarta Globe, November 10 (thanks to Twostellas):

A disabled member of the Indonesian’s minority Ahmadiyah religious sect survived a brutal attack by an unknown assailant but had both his ears partially severed with a machete, it was reported on Thursday.

The victim was identified as Sadarudin, a resident of the run-down Transito shelter in Mataram, Lombok, that has been home to almost 150 persecuted Ahmadi for the last six years.

Metro TV reported that the victim, who is deaf and mute, was collecting wood near the shelter on Wednesday when he was attacked.

Local police said that according to witnesses, the attacker attempted to behead the victim but was scared off when other Ahmadi heard the commotion, according to the report.

Qur'an 47:4: "strike at their necks."

The victim, who would not have been able to call for help, suffered serious head injuries and is fighting for his life in the Mataram General Hospital.

It is understood the assailant had approached his intended victim and asked to borrow his machete before using it in the attack.

The Transito (transit) shelter is home to 138 members of the beleaguered sect who struggle to survive.

The electricity to the shelter was cut off more than three years ago, food aid from the government — which has perpetuated their limbo by refusing them the right to return home or register as residents — was halted last year, and sanitation facilities are non-existent.

A stipend from the state was stopped in 2007.

Not being registered residents, they have been denied the free gas stoves distributed by the government to all citizens, and they now resort to gathering scrap to burn as fuel.

In the current legal climate in Indonesia, Abu Bakar Bashir is all too likely to be acquitted, or at least to score another major reduction in his sentence. Earlier, we wrote "how much Bashir actually serves of a 15-year prison term in Indonesia will be anyone's guess."

There is still ample time to guess. "Indonesian radical cleric Bashir appeals for acquittal," from Radio Netherlands Worldwide, November 8 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Radical Indonesian Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, convicted of funding terrorism, lodged an appeal for acquittal Tuesday after his jail term was slashed last month, his lawyer said.

The 73-year-old Bashir, who is regarded as a spiritual leader of militant Islam in Indonesia and is an outspoken supporter of Al-Qaeda-style jihad, had his jail sentence slashed last month from 15 years to nine.

"We lodged an appeal at the cassation (supreme) court," lawyer Achmad Michdan told reporters after registering the appeal.

A lower court in June sentenced Bashir to 15 years in prison for deliberately inciting terrorism and funding a new terror cell in Aceh province, allegedly planning deadly attacks on Westerners and politicians.

"We are convinced that the cleric was never involved in the Aceh" affair, Michdan said.

The Jakarta High Court ruled last month that Bashir had been involved in a less serious offence, and because of his advanced age his sentence should be reduced.

Michdan said that in the appeal, the team of lawyers questioned testimony given by several key witnesses via Internet videophone.

"They prepared it secretly without our knowledge. That was a violation of judicial procedures," he said.

The bespectacled cleric served almost 26 months behind bars for conspiracy over the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 mainly Western tourists, including 88 Australians.

But that conviction was overturned in the Supreme Court after his release in 2006 and other allegations of terrorism -- including suspected roles in deadly bombings in 2000 and 2003 -- have never been upheld in court.

He was jailed again in June.

Indonesia has been rocked by a series of attacks staged by the regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah in recent years.

"I hope that with this appeal, our cleric will be freed," Michdan said."

They're only destroying Christian or Buddhist statues when they appear in public places. If they're kept inside churches or temples, that's fine. This recalls the dhimmi laws that stipulate that non-Muslims must not make any public display of their religion, such as holding processions or ringing bells, but could practice it behind closed doors, in hushed, furtive tones. Islamic Tolerance Alert from modern, moderate Indonesia: "Java: Muslim violence against statues of other religions," by Mathias Hariyadi from Asia News, November 2 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Jakarta (AsiaNews) – The Islamic Defender Front (FPI) launched an appeal on its website on 29 September 2011 with an order to destroy all “un-Islamic” statues in the country, above all those in public places. FPI members were asked to take a stance against the making of statues that Islam does not approve. The request to reject un-Islamic statues was extended to other Indonesian Muslim groups.

The appeal follows a controversy in Purwakarta (West Java) where hundreds of hard-line Muslims destroyed puppet statues representing mythological figures used in traditional theatre in the city’s downtown.

Purwakarta mayor had offered the puppets used in traditional theatre to represent a more “native” Indonesian identity. However, for Muslim fundamentalists, the puppet statues were “religiously wrong”. On 18 September, hundreds of Muslims destroyed a number of them (see Mathias Hariyadi, “Islamic fundamentalists in Java target puppet statues,” in AsiaNews, 20 September 2011).

The FPI also denounced the existence of several “profane” statues, like a big dragon in Singkawang, in West Borneo Province, and a statue of Buddha in Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, which are still standing despite the hostility of Muslim radicals.

“The statue of the big dragon in Singkawang is a form of evil provocation performed by locals of Chinese descent,” the FPI said in its statement.

Singkawang is about 100 km north of Pontianak, the capital of West Borneo, and has a long-established Chinese community. Despite the presence of indigenous Christian Dayaks and Melayu Muslims, the Chinese are in fact a majority in the city.

This year, Muslims destroyed three statues of Our Lady in Bekasi, West Jav. Still, the FPI said that it would not destroy Catholic statues of Jesus or the Virgin as long as they are kept inside churches. The same goes for Buddhist statues in temples. However, “if they are placed elsewhere, especially in public places, they are to be considered an evil provocation and the state should take action,” its statement read.

By all appearances, the proposed law promises to be yet another exercise in creating the official appearance of "tolerance" on paper, so that business as usual can continue in practice: the cards have been shuffled somewhat, but the dealer is the same, and the deck remains stacked against non-Muslims.

Indonesia has tried this approach before, notably in its 2006 law on houses of worship. The United Nations High Commision for Refugees reported in 2009:

In response to persistent criticism from religious minorities and international observers over the number of religious venues closed or destroyed in Indonesia, the Ministry of Religion issued Joint Ministerial Decree 1/2006 to replace a previous, vaguely-worded decree that required religious groups to gain "community approval" before they could expand, renovate, or open new religious venues. Decree 1/2006 requires a religious group with a membership of more than 90 persons to obtain the support of 60 local residents for any plans to build or expand a religious venue. That petition must then be sent to the Joint Forum for Religious Tolerance (FKUB), a provincial panel of religious leaders chosen proportionally by the number of religious adherents in the province. If there remains strong community opposition to the religious venue, the FKUB can find an alternative location.

Other recent examples of such legal "reforms" that actually threaten to make matters worse include Egypt's similar proposed law on houses of worship, and the recent decree from the Egyptian military that purportedly outlaws "discrimination," but leaves serious questions about actual enforcement.

If the law is adopted, Indonesia will hold it up as proof that it is still a "moderate" Muslim nation. But the law is riddled with contradictions and ambiguities that set up opportunities for abuse. Human Rights Watch has also observed that the bill is sponsored by the same Religious Affairs Ministry that called for a ban on the Ahmadi Muslim sect, already brutally abused in Indonesia and blamed for inviting abuse simply by existing.

How will intolerance of the "tolerance" bill be tolerated? "Religious tolerance bill creates news [sic] problems in Indonesia," by Mathias Hariyadi for Asia News, October 28:

Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Far from being a breakthrough, the religious tolerance bill has stirred controversy on fundamental issues. Drafted by the three government bodies, namely the Ministry for Religious Affairs, the Interior Ministry and the Ministry for People’s Welfare, the bill on religious tolerance, known here as the Rencana [Recangan -ed.] Undang-undang (RUU) Kerukunan [Umat] Beragama, was presented to the Indonesian House of Parliament earlier this year (February 2011). After a series of discussions between members of the Eighth Commission of the House and top government officials from the three ministries, the RUU Kerukunan Beragama has met with strong criticism in Indonesian civil society and it is unclear when it might be adopted.

What is more urgent is not to turn the bill on religious tolerance into law, but “to come up with a bill that guarantees the freedom to practice one’s faith,” said Fr Benny Susetyo Pr, from the Interfaith Commission of the Indonesian Bishops of Conference.

For the clergyman, the Indonesian Constitution 1945 has not yet settled several fundamental issues, including how to guarantee people the right to practice their faith. “In my personal opinion, the most urgent thing to do is to put into practice the bill on free religious practice,” he said in an open discussion.

An open discussion was recently held by the National Awakening Party (PKB), a moderate Muslim party established by the late President Abdurrahman Wahid, in cooperation with the Asian Muslim Action Network to critique the bill.

The RUU Kerukunan Beragama does not address a number of concerns on several fundamental issues, some important scholars from different universities noted. For instance, instead of fostering interfaith tolerance and peaceful coexistence in a country prone to sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians, the bill does the opposite by creating new problems between religious groups and in the relationship between citizens and the state over religious freedom.

Held in parliament in mid-October, the seminar saw three noted Muslim and Catholic scholars critique the bill from different perspectives. The three keynote speakers were Jesuit priest and philosophy and politics professor Fr Franz Magnis-Suseno from the High School of Philosophy Institute, Prof Siti Musdah Mulia from the Islamic State University, who is also the current chairwoman of the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace (ICRP), and Dr Ali Munhanif, also from the Islamic State University.

All three agreed that the bill has created serious problems rather than promote religious tolerance, despite what its name says.

According to Prof Siti Musdah Mulia, the bill’s name is misleading. “I have no idea what kind of religious tolerance it addresses,” she said. “The bill has nothing to say about this fundamental issue”. [...]

The Jesuit priest and philosopher noted that under Chapter 17, Paragraph 2, of the bill people can proclaiming [sic] their faith only to people who have not adopted a religion or who are atheists. “This is very problematic since the state has officially said that every Indonesian citizen is legally expected to adopt a particular religion,” Magnis said. [...]

Another legal and political problem is the fact that people with no religion can be easily become scapegoats. Communists, for example, were politically targeted under the regime of President Suharto (1967-1998). Being an atheist is politically dangerous in Indonesia.

The notion of “disseminating one’s faith” is another problem issue according to the clergyman. Each party has its own definition of what proclaiming the faith means, Fr Magnis explained. Christians and Catholics have their own idea about it; Islam has its own, based on a different spirit and atmosphere.

Another issue concerns places of worship. It is ridiculous that building a place where people can worship needs the approval of neighbours. “The state should allow any place of worship as long as it can provide parking space and not disturb others,” he said.

When Abu Bakr Bashir was sentenced, we wrote: "how much Bashir actually serves of a 15-year prison term in Indonesia will be anyone's guess."

The reduction in his sentence has occurred very quietly, with no explanation given. Now, it is officially down to nine years, and that will not be the end of the story. Bashir's lawyer intends to appeal to the supreme court. "Indonesian court slashes radical cleric's sentence," by Noor Fatchi for the Associated Press, October 26 (thanks to Bill):

JAKARTA, Indonesia—A radical Islamic cleric accused of setting up a terror training camp in western Indonesia had his prison sentence slashed from 15 years to nine years, an appeals court said Wednesday. No reason was given for the decision.

Abu Bakar Bashir, known as the spiritual leader of al-Qaida-linked militants blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings, was accused of providing key support for the camp that brought together men from almost every known extremist group in the predominantly Muslim country.

They were allegedly planning Mumbai-styled gun attacks on foreigners in the capital, Jakarta, and the assassinations of moderate leaders, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

In March, a district court sentenced the 72-year-old cleric to 15 years in prison for inciting terrorism, but his lawyers appealed.

The Jakarta High Court quietly handed down its ruling Oct. 20.

"All I can say right now is that his sentence was reduced to nine years," Achmad Sobari, a court spokesman, told The Associated Press.

"I do not know exactly what factors were taken into account in the judge's decision."

Bashir's lawyer, Mohammad Mahendradatta, said he was awaiting official notification from the court. He stressed, however, that his client was innocent and should be freed.

Even nine years was an outrage, he said, vowing to appeal to the Supreme Court....

Tiny Minority of Extremists™ Update from modern, moderate Indonesia: "Indonesia: About '1.8 million people' have terror links," from AKI, October 12 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

Jakarta, 12 Oct. (AKI) - About 1.8 million of Indonesia's 246 million people have potential links to terrorism, according to the country's anti-terror chief.

"The number is this. More or less 1.8 million people take part in terrorist networks," said Ansyaad Mbai., who heads Indonesia's National Anti-Terrorism Agency, or BNPT, speaking during a panel discussion in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Indonesia, world's most populous Muslim country, is combating Al-Qaeda linked terrorists whose most notorious attack was in Bali in 2002 when 200 people died in an attack by the Jemaah Islamiyah terror group. The country is also fighting a separatist movement in the Aceh region of northern Sumatra....

We have seen this before. In Britain, the head of the Islamic Medical Association told parents that vaccines were haram. In Nigeria, jihadis struck a vaccine warehouse, and paranoia about vaccines being a U.S. plot to sterilize Muslims led to a polio outbreak. "Religious beliefs hinder vaccination in E. Java," by Elly Burhaini Faizal for The Jakarta Post, October 15:

The government has blamed parents’ reluctance to get their children vaccinated for the recent diphtheria outbreak in East Java, with many religious communities in the province still questioning whether the anti diphtheritic vaccine is halal, or allowed according to Islam.

Edi Purwinarto, assistant for people’s welfare affairs at the East Java provincial administration, said on Friday that local communities living in some small areas in the province were still somewhat reluctant to give their newborns a complete basic vaccination.

"Some parents resist getting their children vaccinated due to a number of reasons. Some of them are just worried that vaccination will hurt their children or cause a fever but in some areas people worry that the vaccines are not halal," Edi told The Jakarta Post.

East Java Governor Soekarwo declared an extraordinary situation (KLB) on Sunday for diphtheria in all parts of the province. The provincial administration said that as of Oct. 14, diphtheria incidents had reached 352 cases with 11 deaths, not 328 deaths as reported earlier by several media outlets.

Diphtheria is a deadly upper respiratory-tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, it can be prevented by administering DPT vaccination to newborns.

Mass diphtheria vaccination is being carried out in several outbreak regions, especially in 11 regencies and municipalities; Bangkalan, Banyuwangi, Blitar, Gresik, Mojokerto, Pamekasan, Pasuruan, Sampang, Sidoarjo, Sumenep and Surabaya. Together with religious leaders, Edi said, the local government was working to change existing perceptions and attitudes toward vaccines.

"It’s not easy to overcome parental resistance to immunization since it is closely related to religious perceptions. Therefore, we work with religious organizations to teach parents about the importance of getting their children vaccinated," said Edi mentioning Muslimat NU and Aisyiyah of Muhammadiyah as the government’s counterparts in the dialog....

That tactic is being employed among other efforts in a concerted campaign of Islamization, including the migration of Islamic supremacists to Christian areas. "Bishop concerned about Islamization in Indonesia," from Aid to the Church in Need, October 7 (thanks to Twostellas):

Bishop Hubertus Leteng of Ruteng expressed his concern about growing Muslim extremism during an interview with the Catholic charity, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), which supports persecuted and other suffering Christians.

Speaking during a visit to ACN’s international headquarters near Frankfurt in Germany, he said, “In some places, the political power of Muslims is growing as more and more important positions on the local political level are being held by Muslims.”

He continued by saying that the government now had a drive to appoint more Muslim school teachers.

He added: “Increasingly it is being demanded that Church schools offer Islamic religious instruction as soon as a few Muslim students are enrolled.”

He pointed out that Islamization was well underway on other predominantly Christian islands, including the Maluku islands.

The bishop said Christians in his diocese on the island of Flores were resisting these efforts towards Islamization.

The bishop said that “religious fanatics” were moving to Flores from islands such as Java, where he claimed that problems with religious extremism were much worse.

But he added that Islamization was creating tensions within the Muslim population of Indonesia as well, with many rejecting the “Arabization” of their religion.

Bishop Leteng reported that local Muslims were “resisting increasing radicalization.” Instead, Islamization is being largely driven by militants from the Middle East, he said.

Then there is the Islamic Defenders Front, a homegrown group that has operated with virtual impunity, while Indonesia is somewhat more vigilant about groups with international jihadist links.

The bishop stressed that the Church places great value on promoting mutual respect between Christians and the Muslim community.

Keyword: mutual. Those who seek to subjugate non-Muslims (Qur'an 9:29) find the notion of reciprocity an ungodly affront.

He went on to say that the differences between Muslims and non-Muslims in the country are “characterized more by economic segmentation and ethnic rivalries and have more to do with the political system than with the nature of Islam itself.”

Of course, Islam itself has an inherent political agenda in its sense of entitlement to rule, and that is weighing ever more heavily on Indonesian politics.

The Catholic Church is seeking to raise its profile in Indonesia, particularly in the coastal regions, through its work in education and health.

That alone will provoke fury from Islamic supremacists, who want to purge the visibility of non-Islamic religions from public life. As a result, the Catholic charities are almost certain to be accused of proselytizing no matter what they do, and that is forbidden under Sharia.

In the Diocese of Ruteng, almost 674,000 of the 717,000 inhabitants are Catholic.

With a population of around 233 million and a Muslim majority of about 80 percent, Indonesia is the world’s most populous Islamic nation.

Christians represent a minority of close to 11 percent.

The survival of the constitution as it stands is at the heart of Indonesia's future: either it is a dead letter, or its protections are still in force. That is Indonesia's choice in the coming years. It is indeed in the crosshairs, however, just as the national doctrine of Pancasila itself is under fire from Islamic supremacist revisionists.

Calls for the protection of religious freedom from Pope Benedict XVI tend to provoke strong responses from Islamic supremacists. Earlier this year, he was accused of staging "an attack on the hearts of Muslims," like some hardcore superhuman, octagenarian Chuck Norris pontiff. Since he is suggesting violations of Sharia, even these gently delivered comments may cause offense.

"Vatican: Pope urges freedom for Indonesia's Christians," from AdnKronos International, October 7:

Vatican City, 7 Oct. (AKI) - Pope Benedict XVI on Friday appealed for religious freedom and tolerance for Christians in Indonesia, where Muslim extremists have carried out attacks on churches, opposed their construction and tried to shut them down.

Islamic law forbids the construction of new churches and the repair of old ones. More moderate Islamic countries just make it difficult and dangerous. Indonesia in particular has a permit system that looks even-handed on paper, but stacks the deck against Christians who must seek the permission of the Muslim majority to build.

"Indonesia's constitution guarantees the fundamental human right of freedom to practice one's religion," the pontiff told a delegation of Indonesian bishops visiting the Vatican.

Islamic law forbids the propagation of non-Islamic religions:

"The freedom to live and preach the Gospel can never be taken for granted and must always be justly and patiently upheld. Nor is religious freedom merely a right to be free from outside constraints," Benedict said.

"It is also a right to be authentically and fully Catholic, to practice the faith, to build up the Church and to contribute to the common good," he added.

The pope urged the bishops to foster inter-religious dialogue in overwhelmingly Muslim Indonesia, where Christians are a religious minority.

"Your country, so rich in its cultural diversity and possessed of a large population, is home to significant numbers of followers of various religious traditions", he said.

Groups like the Islamic Defenders Front are working hard to fix that.

Muslims form 86.1 percent of the population , protestants 5.7 percent, Roman Catholic 3 percent, Hindus 1.8 and other religions 3.4 percent of the population in the ethnically diverse nation of 245.6 million people, according to the last census in 2000.

"By doing everything possible to ensure that the rights of minorities in your country are respected, you further the cause of tolerance and mutual harmony in your country and beyond," Benedict concluded.

But what would be the fun in that for the Islamic supremacists?

He swore to base his obedience to Abu Bakir Bashir (Baasyr in this story) on the Qur'an and Sunnah, and yet misunderstood the Religion of Peace™ to the extent that he attacked a church. "Java: church attacker, spiritual son of the Islamic leader Baasyr," by Mathias Hariyadi for Asia News, October 10 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Beni Asri, one of the country's best-known Islamic extremists, arrested after the attack on the Christian church of Solo (Java) last September, has admitted strong links with the leading Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Baasyr. (09/25/2011 At least three killed in a suicide attack on church in Indonesia). Beni Asri has been accused of planning several suicide bombings in Indonesia, and in particular of being the organizer of the attack against the Solo church. Beni Asri was arrested Sept. 30 in his parents' house in Solok, West Sumatra province.

Beni Asri...made a crucial testimony to Indonesian security services investigators who are trying to trace the roots of radical fundamentalism that is spreading among young people. Beni Asri confirmed he had been spiritually "baptized" by Abu Bakar Baasyr after a short course of prayers and Islamic teachings in Cirebon, West Java, in 2008....

Syarif, the perpetrator of the suicide attack on the Cirebon Police Headquarters, was killed in the attack, which injured several officers. "Beni Asri was very committed, he followed the sermons held continuously by Abi Bakar Baasyr in the An Nur Mosque in Cirebon," said a police spokesman, Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam. "Beni Asri received 'baiat' and his companion was Agung Nur Alam". The "baiat" is a spiritual oath, professed by young novices in front of their spiritual director and teacher, after a period of intense preparation and physical and moral training. According to the spokesman, Beni Asri was to an extent "kidnapped" by Agung Nur Alasm, Syarif and a third person, Sueb, to bring him to Abu Bakir Baasyr.

Beni Asri recieved "baiat" along with 15 other young unknown men. The only thing he remembers about that day and the "oath" is that he must "be loyal to all that the Amir (the spiritual leader, Ed) tells him to do, based on the Koran and Sunnah of the Prophet, in the effort to achieve the implementation of Sharia. " After the "baiat" Beni Asri was as an active member of the Jemaah Anshorut Tauhid (Jat), an organization founded by radical Muslim Abu Bakar Baasyr after having abandoned, , his former fundamentalist group, the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) after strong divisions.

According to General Alam, Beni Asri was subjected to a brainwashing to inculcate a false idea of jihad (holy war spiritual) in a series of courses held by Baasyr in the Zaitun mosque of Cirebon. Considered the Amir of the Jemaah Islamiyah, Baasyr’s meetings, which were attended by about thirty young men.

In what way was Bashir's idea of jihad false? Why is the falsity of the jihadists' version of Islam always asserted but never explained? If they swore an oath to do all that Bashir told them to do based on the Qur'an and Sunnah, why didn't they ever notice the apparently abundant contradictions between what Bashir said to do and what the Qur'an and Sunnah said to do?

Based on the precedents established by recent, laughably brief sentences for jihadist attacks, the bar is set quite low for how much time these defendants may serve if they are convicted. Indonesia has a choice here of whether it intends to continue encouraging the repetition and escalation of Islamic supremacist violence by rewarding it with almost non-existent punishments.

"3 in Indonesia Charged With Plotting Suicide Attacks," by Sara Schonhardt for the New York Times, October 8 (thanks to all who sent this in):

JAKARTA, Indonesia — The Indonesian police arrested three men on Saturday and accused them of plotting two suicide attacks in the last six months that injured scores of people.

A National Police spokesman, Maj. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam, announced the arrest of one man, Heru Komarudin, at a market in central Jakarta early Saturday. Mr. Komarudin, 31, is wanted on suspicion of plotting a suicide bombing in April at a mosque in a police compound in the West Java town of Cirebon. The explosion sent nails, nuts and bolts flying into the air, injuring dozens of police officers and killing the bomber.

Hours after Mr. Komarudin’s arrest, two men suspected of having links to him and taking part in planning an attack on Sept. 25 were arrested in Bekasi, a suburb of Jakarta. The police said they had confiscated two boxes of suspicious materials from the Bekasi home shared by the two men, one of whom worked as a computer repairman.

The police identified the bomber in the Sept. 25 attack as Achmad Yosepa Hayat, who detonated explosives strapped to his chest, killing himself and injuring more than 20 Christians as they left church in Central Java.

Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim nation, has been struggling with a new, homegrown terrorism threat in which lone militants and small groups wage attacks against the police and minority religious groups.

Mr. Hayat was reportedly a member of Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid, a group founded by the radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. Mr. Bashir is also the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, a Qaeda-linked militant group that has claimed responsibility for a string of attacks in Indonesia.

"Extremists also accuse Rev Bernard Maukar, head of the Christian community, of engaging in proselytising in a predominantly Muslim area." Proselytizing among Muslims is forbidden by Islamic law. Sharia Alert from modern, moderate Indonesia: "Muslim extremists and authorities shut down Protestant church in West Java," by Mathias Hariyadi for Asia News, October 3 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

Jakarta (AsiaNews) – A group of extremists from the Islamic Defender Front (FPI) have shut down a Protestant church in Jatinangor, in Bandung sub district, last Friday, the Muslim day of prayer. As in previous occasions in which Christian places of worship were seized and religious activities interrupted, the fundamentalists were aided and abetted by the local administration.

Recently, rumours spread according to which the Protestant church was a haven for a “community of newly baptised”. Extremists also accuse Rev Bernard Maukar, head of the Christian community, of engaging in proselytising in a predominantly Muslim area.

Arief Saefolah, village chief in Mekargalih (where the church is located), said he had the right to close down the place of worship as “illegal” because it was within his jurisdiction. “This area is under my authority,” he told the Christian community. “Please, get out as soon as possible.”

Tensions had been rising until last Friday’s showdown. Saefolah and other local security officials (Satpol PP), plus 30 FPI members, seized all Christian properties, including chairs, musical instruments, tables and cars.

A Christian woman from the community, known only by her nickname Pur, lamented the fact that police did not lift a finger to stop the “vandalism”. In her view, “police have no guts against this radical group.”...