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October 23, 2005
Indonesia: Vigilantes of Islam
A report from Strategy Page documents the ongoing oppression of minority groups within Indonesia. There are 17,000 Islamic schools across Indonesia. Even though Indonesia's Vice-President Jusuf Kalla recently only referred to two islamist schools or pesantren which were inciting terror through their radical teachings, the Strategy Page states that many more are encouraging emnity towards non-Muslims. Several mosques host preachers who urge Muslims to resist conversion from Christian groups. The two schools which have had students graduating to cause terror attacks are the Al-Mukmin and Al-Islam schools. The former was run by Abu Bakar Bashir, the Yemeni-born spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, who is currently in prison for his part in the 2002 Bali bombings.
The Christian population is concentrated on a few islands in the archipelago, and these are being threatened by Islamic vigilantes. About 9% of Indonesians are Christian, 2% Hindu and 2% other religions.
We referred earlier to the massacre of Christians on Ambon, Maluku, from 2002, where Muslim cleric Jaffar Umar Thalib urged 5000 Muslims to attack the Christian community, where up to 21 people were killed, with children among the dead and injured. A gruesome film is available documenting the decapitations, and burnings of members of the Christian community. At the start of September, three Christian women were jailed for inviting Muslim children to Church activities.
Even Muslims have been targetted by Indonesia's hard-line clerics. In July the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) issued a decree stating that all liberal interpretations of Islam, secularism and pluralism were un-Islamic and therefore "haram" or forbidden. The Ahmaddiyah (Ahmadi) have been threatened with violence.On September 20 this year, 1000 people attacked buildings in Sukdana, West Java, damaging 70 houses and six mosques.
Strategy Page has stated that armed men from organisations like "Islamic Defenders' Front" have been continuing to attack Christians this month, threatening to burn houses and kill people if, in one case, Catholics do not stop holding prayer services in their homes. The armed gangs say they follow the Koran, and police are often hesitant to pursue and arrest them, for fear of provoking more violence.
According to the BBC, the Islamic Defenders' Front do not wish to impose Sharia law nor create an Islamist state, but prefer to deal with issues within communities. Their leader, Habib Rizieq Shihab (aka Muhammad Rizieq) was facing jail for inciting followers to make raids on various social establishments. In the end, although he could have received a 7 year jail term, he only served 7 months. The group number several thousand, mainly young, Muslims. According to MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base Habib Rizieq Shihab (pictured) served his seven month jail term at Salemba Penitentiary in Central Jakarta, being released on November 19, 2003. The group, which was formed in the late 1990s apparently is financed by business extortion.
Even though Aceh, since the Tsunami of 24 December 2004, has been reported as more peaceful, with 6000 rebels declaring a truce with the Indonesian government in August, there have been outbreaks of violence lately. Rebels are continuing to hand in weapons, with 840 so far returned, but there have still been fire-fights with one rebel dead and several wounded. There are still 3000 active rebels in the region.
On the border of East Timor and West Timor, a new paramilitary pro-Indonesian group has recently emerged, calling itself Okto. It is made up of Indonesians who formerly lived in West Timor, but moved to East Timor after independence. They have not yet made any attacks, but West Timorese police fear they may soon start raids across the border.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at October 23, 2005 7:05 AM
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