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December 9, 2005

Indonesia: Muslim Guards For Churches At Christmas

The largest Islamic organisation in Indonesia, the Nahdlatul Ulama has said it will provide a volunteer force to guard Christian churches over the Christmas period, states the Khaleej Times.

The Nahdlatul Ulama has 40 million members, 10 million more than its closest rival, the Muhammadiyah. Both organisations have already pledged allegiance to the campaign against extremist Islam currently being mounted by Jusuf Kalla, the Vice President, and the government.

The reason for the Nahdlatul Ulama making the announcement is that there are fears militants may take the opportunity to make attacks upon Christians during the festive season. The volunteers will come from a youth wing of the organisation, the Banser group, who say that they have also involved youths from other religions.

Tatang Hidayat, national coordinator of the Banser group, stated that the volunteers, who wear quasi-military uniforms, would be working closely with the existing police operations and the security officers from the churches.

As well as being a positive gesture, it is also a practical gesture. Christmas time has been a time previously for attacks against Christians. On Christmas Eve, 2000, a number of bombings took place throughout Indonesian cities, including Jakarta. In these, 19 people died, including one Banser member, who was guarding a church at the time. The police are said to be preparing for this year's Christmas operation against potential terrorist attack by deploying 17,000 officers in the city of Jakarta during the season.

The 2000 bomb attacks have been blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah, the group responsible for the bomb attacks on Bali in 2002 and also on October 1 this year.

We reported in October on the increase of attacks, particularly in Central Sulawesi, against Christians. We also described the policies of intimidation used to close schools by some Muslim groups, which include the Islamist vigilantes the Islamic Defenders Front and also Hizb ut-Tahrir. We returned to the issue of church closures and how these were condoned by law in November.

The recent outbreaks of violence against Christians are concentrated in Central Sulawesi, scene of previous Muslim/Christian conflict between 2000 and 2001 in which 1000 people were killed.

The recent violence began in earnest in Poso, when three Christian schoolgirls were decapitated on October 29, followed by two more Christians girls being shot in the head in Poso on November 8, and by November 20 more attacks were taking place. A group of three young Christian women were attacked with machetes in Palu, Central Sulawesi, with one girl bleeding to death from a neck-wound, and two Christians in Palu were shot while returning home from church, and three girls were shot at in Palu.

Poso in Central Sulawesi had Muslim/Christian violence at Christmas of 1998, when a row outside a mosque between some young Christians and Muslims got out of hand, with Churches burned and the entire town of Poso virtually devastated.
The girls who were decapitated on October 29 on their way to school were Ida Yarni Sambue (15), Theresia Morangke (15), and Alfita Poliwo (19). Alfita is above, on the left, and Theresia is on the right.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at December 9, 2005 11:39 AM

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