“Lake Toba and the surrounding region is home to the country’s largest Christian ethnic minority group, the Batak.” But now the provincial governor of North Sumatra, Edy Rahmayadi, has proposed making the area attractive to Muslim tourists, via “halal tourism.”
“Ideas included introducing halal certification for restaurants and building more mosques.” This means an abrupt end of peace for the Christian community. The first blow is to their farming tradition.
The Batak have farmed pigs for generations. Their cuisine is synonymous with pork, often served grilled or stewed in a spicy sauce made with pig blood. The governor’s mere suggestion the tradition could be curtailed led one local Batak activist to announce a pork festival for later this month replete with hog races, a bacon cook-off and a booth to take selfies with the fair’s most impressive sow.”
A Christian local asked the question: “Muslim tourists have been coming here for years and never complained. Why do we have to limit Lake Toba by making it halal?” The reason is to promote Islam and diminish Christianity. It is about Islamic supremacist imposition and expansion. “Once considered at the vanguard of moderate Islam, Indonesia in the past decade and a half has veered toward a more conservative brand of the religion influenced by Arab Wahhabism.”
This is the general picture in Indonesia:
Now, with what looks to be an Islamic revival in Indonesia thanks to “born again Muslims,” Indonesia is seeing a “rapid growth in demand for halal food,” housing developments to give Muslims “the chance to follow in the footsteps of the Prophet Muhammad,” sharia banking, “Islamic friendly” entertainment, and Muslim prayer festivals, all helped along by online Islamic preachers. The country is also experiencing the impact of Saudi Arabia quietly spreading its “brand of puritanical Islam.”
Once “halal tourism” is imposed upon Lake Toba, more intolerance, persecution of Christians and general misery will also follow, as happens everywhere Islamization is advanced.
“A Christian Enclave Confronts a Proposal to Attract Muslim Tourists,” by David Pierson, Jerusalem Post, October 15, 2019:
AKE TOBA, Indonesia – The ground still occasionally trembles here, a reminder of the active volcano below that last erupted 75,000 years ago and blasted a crater out of the Earth the size of Los Angeles.
The violent explosion, which triggered a global volcanic winter, formed a natural wonder – a massive oval lake ringed by steep mountains and filled in the center with a verdant island that’s lured adventurous travelers to this remote part of Sumatra for decades.
But Lake Toba has seen better days. Its local tourist industry has struggled since the 1997 Asian financial crisis and 2002 Bali bombing. The sinking last year of a ferry that drowned more than 160 passengers in the lake’s deep waters delivered another major blow.
It was against this backdrop that Edy Rahmayadi, the provincial governor of North Sumatra, proposed reviving the area by making Lake Toba more amenable to Muslim tourists, a growing force in the global travel industry dubbed “halal tourism.” Ideas included introducing halal certification for restaurants and building more mosques.
Where critics say Rahmayadi went too far was when he suggested regulating the decidedly non-halal practice of slaughtering pigs in public. To mark a birthday or wedding, residents around Lake Toba typically kill and carve a hog for a feast, sometimes on someone’s driveway.
“If [Muslim] tourists see that, they’ll never come back to Lake Toba again,” Rahmayadi told reporters.
If this were almost any place else in Indonesia – the world’s largest Muslim nation – many would nod in agreement. But Lake Toba and the surrounding region is home to the country’s largest Christian ethnic minority group, the Batak.
Converted by German missionaries in the 1800s (sometimes at great peril because of instances of ritual cannibalism), the Batak have farmed pigs for generations. Their cuisine is synonymous with pork, often served grilled or stewed in a spicy sauce made with pig blood.
The governor’s mere suggestion the tradition could be curtailed led one local Batak activist to announce a pork festival for later this month replete with hog races, a bacon cook-off and a booth to take selfies with the fair’s most impressive sow.
“Pigs are precious here,” said Togu Simorangkir, who organized the festival on a whim after reading the Muslim governor’s comments in a Facebook post. “They provide financial security. When parents greet their kids, they don’t ask if they’ve eaten yet, they ask if they’ve fed the pigs yet.”
Rahmayadi’s comments touched a nerve. Batak in the area now say they’re unwilling to cede their culture, particularly as the power and influence of Islam has encroached deeper into Indonesian life.
The dispute highlights the ever-present tensions in a country with more than 300 ethnic groups spread across 17,000 islands practicing six officially recognized religions – one of which dominates politics in Indonesia while exhibiting growing signs of intolerance.
Once considered at the vanguard of moderate Islam, Indonesia in the past decade and a half has veered toward a more conservative brand of the religion influenced by Arab Wahhabism…..
somehistory says
With a moslim creep in charge, it is likely that the pig festivals, bacon eating, etc. will come to an end and moslims will invade this pretty area and make of it a real ‘pigsty”
Angemon says
I like the way these guys think… 😉
Disingenuous wording. “Born again Christian” colloquially means someone who converted to Christianity late in life, usually after leading an unchristian lifestyle. I believe a more accurate description would be “muslims turning more devout”. I don’t see born again Christians demanding special food, special banking rules, specific housing for them, etc.
Warren Raymond says
The jihad is permanent and relentless. It will not stop until the last disbeliever is eliminated. That is the nature of the beast.
DHazard says
Why is reporting on, discussion of, or mere mention of Christian persecution at the hands of Muslims pretty much off limits to the big media conglomerates (including Google plus ABC, CNN etc.)? A culture is exterminated without a peep.
Muslim2019 says
Why are the Christians consuming pork when Jesus (peace be upon him) according to their books observed Kosher and Jewish law? He did not come to abolish the law. Hence he laid down the foundation taught by the prophets of Old.
Bible Hub (2009-2019) Matthew 5:17-20 states, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
With this said let us explore what the Old Testament said. Hence the Christians have abandoned the understanding of the prophets including Jesus whom they claim they love. Moreover, they have rejected the last and final messenger/prophet Muhammad peace be upon them all. It is good that the Indonesians are returning to Islam, the Most Populous nation in Islam need to open their eyes and stamp shirk (polytheism) and all the haram (forbidden) things from their societies in sha Allah.
No porky it’s forbidden in both the bible and the Holy Quran so this should be stamped out of Indonesia, it will better the religion of the Christians there, in fact the Christians need to embrace Islam, the only truth in the sight of God.
Leviticus 11:7-8 states, “Other animals have hooves that are split into two parts, but they don’t chew the cud. Don’t eat these animals. Pigs are like that, so they are unclean for you. 8 Don’t eat the meat from these animals. Don’t even touch their dead bodies! They are unclean for you.”
Bible Gateway (2006). Leviticus 11:7-8 retrieved from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+11&version=ERV
Bible Hub (2004-2019). Matthew 5:17-20. retrieved from https://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/matthew/5.htm
balafama says
is that what ur imams taught u ?
balafama says
is that the lie ur imams have been spewing . be gone with ur violent fake copycat religion
Jean (old) says
Muslim2019
I can answer your question: Jesus was very clear concerning food rules.
https://biblehub.com/bsb/mark/7.htm#14
“Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, “Listen and understand. A man is not defiled by what enters his mouth, but by what comes out of it.”
Then the disciples came to Him and said, “Are You aware that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
But Jesus replied, “Every plant that My Heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by its roots. Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
Peter said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.”
“Do you still not understand?” Jesus asked. “Do you not yet realize that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then is eliminated? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander. These are what defile a man, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile him.”
This is what Christianity is all about: One must purify the heart. Be kind to others, not lie, steal, kill, betray, and such. That is what purity is in the eyes of God. One should not waste one’s energy worrying all day about dietary questions, much less about the diet of other people. One should not judge others as unclean, but always spend that energy instead on becoming better spiritually oneself. The obsession with what to eat or how and when to wash is not “a plant planted by the Heavenly Father”, but a clinging to empty rituals: attempts by humans to quench their own fear of God.
Jesus explained that God is not interested in these things; that you cannot win heaven by washing your body, adhering to a certain diet, or wearing a special headgear. The way to heaven is not that easy. It demands that one looks at the state of one’s soul and tries to cleanse all cruelty, resentment, self-delusion, etc. away from it, to become more like Jesus.
Christianity means to let go of all the superficial rules by which humans in older times used to appease the gods (whom they believed to be cruel and vindictive), and become aware that God truly loves us and wants us to love him in return, without fear, and love each other in the same unconditional way.
According to Jesus, it is sinful to create a conflict with one’s neighbor because he or she eats something different or wears something different from you (or wears nothing at all). This is not God’s will. It is the devil, not God, who calls for war among humans.
Thank you for your question.