Category Archives: Indonesia

Indonesian Islamic groups demonstrate against liberal Muslims and Ahmadiyya

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Indonesia must be “free” of liberal values, including liberal interpretations of Islam. That’s the message of thousands of Muslims who demonstrated against the Ahmadiyya minority faith and “liberalism” on Friday. The Islam Defenders Front (FPI), Islamic Peoples Forum (FUI), Islam Reform Movement (Garis) and Ukhuwah Islamiyah Forum gathered at the HI Roundabout in Jakarta and called for Indonesia to be “free” from liberal ideas.

Wearing traditional white clothing the demonstrators chanted against the Liberal Islam Network (JIL) and held banners which read… continue reading.

Atheist arrested in Indonesia for writing “God does not exist” on Facebook

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From People of Shambhala.

An Indonesian civil servant is facing five years in jail for writing “God does not exist” on a Facebook page, “Ateis Minang” (“Minang Atheists”), that he moderated.

The 31 year-old man, who is known as Alexander, was reported to the police by the Indonesia Council of Ulema, which is not a state organization.

Police have confirmed that they have charged a man with blasphemy in connection to the case.

Dharmasraya Police Chief Sr. Comr. Chairul Aziz told the Jakarta Globe “that the district branch of the council, known as MUI, and other Islamic organizations believed Alexander, 31, had defiled Islam by using passages from the Koran to denounce the existence of God.”

Chairul says that because Alexander cited the Koran in… read more.

Indonesia celebrated for diversity, as minority faiths discriminated against

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From People of Shambhala.

Soldiers file past a burned out Ahmadiyah mosque in Java, Indonesia.

Indonesia is often heralded for its pluralism by Western leaders as a nation showing other Muslim-majority states how to do moderate Islam. It is, we are told, a land of peace and pluralism. One pundit, in today’s Jakarta Globe says otherwise.

Calvin Michel Sidjaja, a researcher for HD Asia Advisory in Jakarta, calls Indonesia’s pluralism “questionable.”

Sidjaja alleges that religious violence has increased due to bias at Government levels. The Religious Affairs Ministry, he says, “has been traditionally slanted to favor Muslims. The Religious Affairs Minister openly stated his preference for disbanding Ahmadiyah in August 2010.”The Jakarta Post reported in 2011 that at least 26 regencies and municipalities had “passed bylaws restricting or banning the… read more.

Am I dreaming? or is this for real?

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I took screen caps from the White House website cause frankly I can’t believe it.

First one from here:

And the second one from a link in the first one. From December 26 2011

For some reason I am reminded of how on Barry Soweto Hussein Obama’s trip to India he decided not to enter the Sikh’s most important temple to avoid any speculation on his faith  and then visited a mosque in Indonesia on the same trip.

H/T TL and Gateway Pundit

Punk’s not dead — in Islam.

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From European Son
The 80s British anarcho-punk band Conflict is hanging in there — like U2, the Rolling Stones, and all the other bands that they no doubt detest. So, as the decades old slogan says, “Punk’s [or ‘Punx’] not dead.” But it’s playing things safe in its old age. On Conflict’s MySpace page there’s a poster for a punk gig with image an of a nun holding a revolver, encircled by the words “Punk illegal” — or “illegal Punk,” perhaps. Only, in Britain, of course, it’s not illegal, and it lost its ability to shock long ago — at least in liberal democracies, that is.

Continue Reading →

Aceh Muslims Speak Out in Support Of Punks’ Treatment

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h/t A. MillarJG Logo

Thu, December 22, 2011

Aceh Muslims Speak Out in Support Of Punks’ Treatment
Arientha Primanita & Antara | December 22, 2011

A detained youth cries as she sings a song during a religious class at Sekolah Polisi Negara, a police school in Seulawah, Aceh Besar, Indonesia’s Aceh province on Wednesday. Police detained about 65 youth punks when they attended a rock music show on December 11. The youths are expected to be released on Friday 23 after completing disciplinary education. (Reuters Photo) A detained youth cries as she sings a song during a religious class at Sekolah Polisi Negara, a police school in Seulawah, Aceh Besar, Indonesia’s Aceh province on Wednesday. Police detained about 65 youth punks when they attended a rock music show on December 11. The youths are expected to be released on Friday 23 after completing disciplinary education. (Reuters Photo)

Muslims students and clerics in staunchly Islamic Aceh on Wednesday came to the defense of the local authorities, saying that punks were trying to undermine Islamic law in the province, as officials claim.

Authorities in Aceh, especially the administration of the Banda Aceh municipality, have come under a barrage of criticism at home and abroad, with accusations of human rights violations being made following their move to arrest 65 punks in Aceh and send them for several days of “re-education” at a police camp.

“The existence of punks in Aceh is weakening the implementation of Islamic Shariah [law] in Aceh that is now being promoted, by damaging the moral of the youths in Aceh,” said Tengku Mukhtar Syafari, the head of the Rabithath Muta’allin Pidie association of clerics.

The Aceh chapter of Indonesian Muslim Student Action Unity (Kammi) aired its full support for the authorities’ actions, saying that the life they were living was not in line with the culture and customs of Aceh. Continue Reading →

Central Java: statue of the Virgin decapitated

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ASIA NEWS

by Mathias Hariyadi
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.

In recent years, Christmas has seen several attacks against Indonesia’s Christian communities. In 2000, a series of bombings killed 19 people during Christmas week. On 31 December 2005, seven people died in an attack against a market in a Christian section of Palu (Sulawesi).

In both cases, Jemaah Islamyah, which is linked to al Qaeda, was blamed.

This won’t make these punks’ day: Rock fans have heads shaved and get ‘cleansed’ in river in Islamic law crackdown

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And so it continues…

The Daily Mail:

  • 65 youths have been sent to a police school in Indonesia’s Aceh province to receive mental and spiritual guidance for ten days
  • Only then are they are allowed to return home

By Graham Smith

Last updated at 10:06 PM on 14th December 2011

Dozens of young punk rock fans have had their heads shaved and body piercings confiscated after police in Indonesia said they were a threat to Islamic values.

The 59 male and six female music lovers were also stripped of dog-collar necklaces and chains and then thrown in pools of water for ‘spiritual’ cleansing, police chief Iskandar Hasan said.

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

The 65 youths were then sent to a police school to receive mental and spiritual guidance for ten days. Only then are they are allowed to return home.

Indonesian police arrested 65 punk rock fans at a concert in Banda Aceh on Saturday. They then shaved off the youths' hair and removed their body piercings which they say threaten Islamic valuesIndonesian police arrested 65 punk rock fans at a concert in Banda Aceh on Saturday. They then shaved off the youths’ hair and removed their body piercings which they say threaten Islamic values

 

Boot camp: Police also replaced the music fans' 'disgusting' clothes and each was handed a toothbrushBoot camp: Police also replaced the music fans’ ‘disgusting’ clothes and each was handed a toothbrush

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

Adultery is punishable by stoning to death; homosexuals have been thrown in jail or lashed in public with canes; women are told that wearing headscarves is a must, but tight trousers are banned.

 

Punk rockers have complained for months about harassment, but Saturday’s round-up was by far the most dramatic treatment they have yet been subjected to.

Baton-wielding police broke up the concert, scattering young music lovers. Continue Reading →

Indonesia: About ‘1.8 million people’ have terror links

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 From ADNKRONOS

last update: October 12, 17:39
 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.
In the last few years Indonesia has formed links with moderate religious groups that are working to counter radical religious ideology, the Jakarta Post quoted Mbai as saying.

Indonesia: Jakarta governor comes under fire by women’s rights groups

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Below is part of the article from

ADNKRONOS

Please click through for the rest

last update: September 19, 16:13

Jakarta, 19 Sept. (AKI/Jakarta Post) – Indonesian women’s rights activists condemned Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo for his statement that shifted the blame for a spike in rape cases onto women wearing tight and revealing outfits.

Fauzi said on Friday that women should not wear miniskirts when riding public transportation vehicles to avoid “any unwanted consequences”.

“I urge women in Jakarta and other cities to avoid wearing miniskirts when they ride on these minivans, because this could arouse male drivers and passengers,” Fauzi said responding to questions on what the city government would do to reduce the number of rape cases in the city. Activists were outraged by the statement, saying that it was a shameful statement from a public official.

“Fauzi should just resign. The governor of Jakarta should not make such statements as it does not reflect good governance principles,” said director of Jurnal Perempuan Foundation Mariana Amiruddin.

Mariana said that rape should be considered as a crime, no matter what triggered the act.

“By attributing rape to how women dress Fauzi is blaming the victims. This is like saying that if Fauzi drove the minivan, he would think that it would be all right for him to rape female passengers in mini skirts,” she said.

Chairperson of the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) Yuniyanti Chuzaifah said that Fauzi’s statement was a classic statement of authority putting the blame on victims.

“His statement suggests that it is women who should be responsible [when a rape occurs],” she said.

Yuniyanti said Fauzi had done a lousy job in gender education for Jakarta residents.

“As the highest-ranking official in the city, Fauzi should be aware that people follow his example. If he’s saying things like this, people will think that he’s right,” she said.

This is not the first time government officials have made statements that shifted the blame for rape onto women.

In 2009, West Aceh regent Ramli Mansur made national headlines for suggesting that it was all right to rape a woman who wore tight pants.

The Blaze: Indonesian Muslims Continue to Forbid Christians From Building Church on Street with Islamic Name

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In what is being called a national test of religious tolerance, Muslims in Indonesia’s West Java province are continuing to block Christian worshipers from building a church, namely because the future edifice would stand on a street with an Islamic name.

As The Blaze reported last month, local mayor Diani Budiarto is refusing to comply with a supreme court ruling to allow the congregation to build its church, choosing to defer to the wishes of the Muslim majority.

The national ombudsman has reportedly given the mayor two weeks to implement the supreme court’s decision and allow the church to be built, a move that has not stopped protestors from decrying the Christian worshipers’ plans.

“Why does a church need to build in a street with an Islamic name? Why do they need to build a church in an Islamic neighborhood?” one protester asked.

Please click here for the rest at The Blaze:

Sumatra: Ramadan begins with the burning of two Protestant churches

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From Asia News:

by Mathias Hariyadi
A crowd of at least 100 people attacked and torched a prayer centre of the Christian Batak Synod (Hkbp). They had previously attacked another Christian church five miles away. The violence took place on the first day of the holy month of fasting and prayer for Muslims.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) – A mob of a hundred people attacked and set fire to two Protestant house churches in Logas Tanah Darat, in the Regency of Kuantan, Riau Province (Sumatra). The incident occurred August 1, coinciding with the start of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting and prayer for Muslims, but the news was broadcast by a radio station in Jakarta only late yesterday afternoon. The new attack against the Christian minority, according to some experts, is also a consequence of the “soft” sentences recently imposed by courts against extremists and Islamic leaders in Indonesia. Continue Reading →

Mandatory veil and fasting as Indonesia is ‘Islamised’ during Ramadan

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ASIA NEWS:

by Mathias Hariyadi
Pamekasan District chief imposes jilbab on female public servants. Restaurants are closed during the day for a whole month. Nightclubs shut down as Muslim fundamentalists go after those who break the rules. On Sumatra Island, civil servants are fired if they break the fast.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Wearing the veil for female public servants and fasting, including job loss if caught eating, are becoming compulsory in Indonesia. In some parts of the country, Ramadan has become a time of Islamisation with rules increasingly inspired by Sharia. For the authorities, fasting and praying have become compulsory, forcing Muslims to abstain from food and drink from dawn to dusk.

On Madura Island (East Java Province), Pamekasan District chief Kusairi issued a directive whereby all female employees must wear the jilbab, or headscarf. In order to promote conformity with Islamic principles, women street vendors have to conform to the obligation. For Kusairi, this will strengthen Muslim women’s faith. Continue Reading →