Muslim extremist groups continue to grow violent toward Christians in Indonesia

Indonesia (MNN) ― The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights recently raised concerns over the plight of religious minorities in Indonesia.

Many are Christians who have been noting the rise of violent attacks and forced displacement. This, in addition to other forms of discrimination, such as being denied identification cards. Sources from Open Doors and the Voice of the Martyrs say there have been reports of forced church closures, even where the churches have secured legal permission.

International Christian Concern reported Jakarta police finally taking security measures to protect Christians as they gathered to celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. More than 12,000 police were deployed to roughly 2,000 churches throughout Central Java.

Muslim extremist groups in Indonesia, with suspected ties to al Qaeda, continue to grow more violent towards Christians, with little resistance from authorities.

Voice of the Martyrs noted one incident with a girl named Ribur who was jailed for 60 days for talking about her faith in Jesus. According to the VOM report, she chose to be part of an agricultural mission project in Aceh on the island of Sumatra. Teaching about how to raise crops and livestock often gave the team opportunities to answer questions about their faith.

ICC says Ribur eventually began a community Bible study. She and another teammate had developed a relationship with a local woman, who eventually gave her life to Christ. That’s where Ribur ran into trouble.

Shortly after this, a mob attacked Ribur and the other Christian worker. The beating continued for 45 minutes, eventually ending when the police came and arrested the pair for blaspheming Islam. When officials asked her why she shared about Jesus, Ribur said, "Jesus wants everyone to know about Him."

Eventually, the pair was released. However, Franz Magnis-Suseno of the Driyarkara School of Philosophy says, "The religious situation in Indonesia is marked by a rising number of social conflicts between neighborhoods and villages; conflicts on ethnic and, increasingly, on religious lines."

The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) cited the lack of religious freedom in Indonesia as among the issues that marred the country's human rights record.

Ignorance by the government has obviously encouraged increasing violence against minority groups in other areas, too, all across the country, which could potentially be misused by political interests approaching the 2014 legislative and presidential elections, said Kontras.

Pray for Christians like Ribur who are facing persecution for their faith. Ask God to give those who face persecution the strength to stand strong and testify the truth.

Christians win legal challenge brought by Muslims for village in Indonesia

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

HORALE, MALUKU PROVINCE, INDONESIA (ANS) -- Indonesian Christians have won a lengthy legal battle over the ownership of their village against neighboring Muslims who had virtually razed it to the ground in 2008.

Arial view of the destruction

According to Barnabas Fund (www.barnabasfund.org) Horale in Maluku province, Indonesia, was destroyed in an attack by a Muslim mob from the neighboring village of Saleman on May 2, 2008.

They were said to have burnt down 120 houses, three churches and the village school, and destroyed 15 hectares of crops. Four Christians were killed and 56 injured in the onslaught.

“One week after the incident, Muslims from Saleman brought a legal challenge over the ownership of Horale, claiming that the land was part of their territory,” said a Barnabas Fund spokesperson. “The case was first heard at county level, where a Muslim is the head of the government. Despite evidence in support of the Horale Christians, the court ruled in favor of the Saleman villagers.

Villagers helped to rebuild their homes

“The Christians appealed to the provincial court, which overturned the verdict, prompting the Muslims to take the matter to the Supreme Court. It has now ruled that the ten square miles in question rightfully belong to the Christian residents.

“Had they lost the case, they would have had to leave the village with nowhere else to go.”

Barnabas Fund helped the Horale Christians, who are low-earning farmers, with their legal costs.

The spokesperson added, “We have also helped finance the reconstruction of the village, which is now home to around 150 families (900 individuals). Funds were used to turn 106 semi-permanent houses provided by the government in the aftermath of the attack into permanent homes, and to build 14 new properties for those who had none.

Barnabas Fund helped finance the reconstruction of Horale

“We assisted in rebuilding the three damaged churches and also provided other resources for the villagers, including rice and electricity.
The attack in May 2008 forced the Christian villagers to flee to the jungle. Now that their properties have been rebuilt and their right to Horale has been established, they hope to be left to resume their lives in peace.”

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Dan Wooding, 71, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries and also provides a regular commentary for Worship Life Radio on KWVE. You can follow Dan Wooding on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. Dan has recently received two top media awards -- the Passion for the Persecuted award from Open Doors US, and one of the top "Newsmakers of 2011" from Plain Trust magazine. He is the author of some 44 books, one of which is his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link.

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** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

Indonesia: saying "NO" to Islamic Intolerance

-- specifically to the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI)

By Elizabeth Kendal

Something happened in Palangkaraya, the provincial capital of Central Kalimantan, on Saturday 11February 2012 that may prove pivotal for Indonesia. While it was not the first time Indonesian moderates, reformists, human rights activists and peace-loving citizens have taken a stand against Islamic intolerance, it was an inspirational victory.

On 11 February, four prominent leaders of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI: Front Pembela Islam) flew into Central Kalimantan from Jakarta to inaugurate their organisation in Palangkaraya. Upon landing, however, the FPI delegation -- which included FPI founder, Saudi-educated Habib Rizieq -- was blocked by a crowd of around 800 locals, mostly indigenous Dayaks, at Palangkaraya's Tjilik Riwut Airport.

After first staging a street protest -- displaying banners at strategic locations and railing against the FPI and its plans to open an office in the city -- the protestors met up at Tjilik Riwut Airport in time to besiege the FPI leaders on their plane. According to Tempo Interactive, "The residents said they did not want the organization, which often uses violence, to enter their area."

The protestors forced their way onto the runway to confront the FPI officials, causing air traffic to be disrupted for over three hours. They dispersed only after airport officials convinced them that the FPI members would not be permitted to disembark and would travel on to another destination.

The Jakarta Globe headline on 16 February was a classic: "Could Palangkaraya Be Our Rosa Parks' Moment in the War Against Violence?" According to Jakarta Globe correspondent Pangeran Siahaan, "The people of Palangkaraya believe violence, which the FPI advocates, is intolerable and they found FPI’s presence in their city as a threat to society. The residents were successful in ousting the FPI, as the FPI officers . . . fled without stepping off their plane."

From Palangkaraya to Jakarta . . .

As Peter Alford, Jakarta correspondent for The Australian comments, "Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) bullying is so rarely confronted that the spectacle of its officials being almost literally run out of town in Central Kalimantan last weekend grabbed national attention.

"Civil society activists in the national capital, where the hard-liners wield their strongest influence, have tried to seize upon FPI's momentary discomfiture to galvanise a 'Movement for an FPI-free Indonesia'."

Jakarta's 'Movement for an FPI-free Indonesia' held its inaugural public demonstration at the Hotel Indonesia (HI) traffic circle on 14 February. "If Kalimantan can do it, Jakarta can also do it," activist spokeswoman Tunggal Pawestri told the Jakarta Globe.

The Jakarta Globe's Pangeran Siahaan attended the demonstration, which he says was inspired by the courage, determination and principle on display in Palangkaraya and fuelled by the same spirit.

"Everybody," writes Siahaan, "has said that they’re fed up with the unlawful behavior of such organizations, but nothing had been done publicly to declare a war against violence and intolerance until the citizens of Palangkaraya stood up and their voices reached the people of Jakarta. Driven by the same spirit and anger caused by the government’s leniency towards violence, I joined the protest rally at the HI traffic circle. It was a peaceful event as the protesters unfurled banners and posters while chanting, 'Indonesia Damai! Tanpa FPI! Tanpa Kekerasan' ('Peace in Indonesia! Without FPI! Without Violence!')."

Siahaan despairs that when FPI militants disrupted the protest and began assaulting some of the protestors, the police chose to shepherd the protestors, rather than the attackers, away from the HI traffic circle, supposedly for safety reasons. 

"What a bucket of nonsense," rails Siahaan, "because what’s the purpose of the police’s being there if not to prevent harm to the rally attendants?"

Vivi Widyawati, a coordinator with the "Movement for an FPI-free Indonesia" said the Jakarta rally was intended to widen opposition to the hardline group following the Dayaks’ 11 February protest at Palangkaraya airport.

. . . to Surabaya and beyond

And as Megawati Wijaya reports for Asia Times, opposition to the FPI iswidening. "The anti-FPI movement spread to Surabaya, another major metropolitan area where people referring to themselves as 'Surabaya Residents Against Violence' held a similar rally on February 17. Although the group did not specifically refer to the FPI in its addresses promoting non-violence, yells of 'Indonesia without FPI, Indonesia without violence' could be heard from the gathered mass, according to local press reports."

In order to maintain momentum, Jakarta's "Movement for an FPI-free Indonesia" is planning to take the battle online using Twitter, blogging and other social media tools. Bhagavad Sambada, one of the movement's founders, is confident: "The snowball has rolled and it is getting bigger. The movement will be more widespread and will be unstoppable."

The FPI has slammed the movement as a "Western-funded plot".

-----

Related:
FPI files reports to police over hostile Palangkaraya welcome
Dicky Christanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 02/13/2012 11:54 AM

No love shown to the FPI
Bagus BT Saragih, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 02/15/2012

FPI and the Government: Best Friends?
by Calvin Michel Sidjaja, Jakarta Globe, 21 Feb 2012

Indonesian President Sidesteps Church Controversy

The GKI Yasmin church from Bogor worshipped
 in front of the presidential palace on Feb. 12.
(Photo: Compass)

Declines to enforce Supreme Court ruling that GKI permit be reinstated.

JAKARTA, Indonesia, February 23 (CDN) — In a defeat for the rule of law in Indonesia, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has declined to enforce a Supreme Court ruling that a local government allow a West Java church to worship in its building.


The Bogor city government revoked the building permit of the Christian Church of Indonesia (Gereja Kristen Indonesia, or GKI) Yasmin church in February 2008; the Supreme Court ordered it be reinstated in December 2010, but Bogor Mayor Dhani Budiarto has refused.


President Yudhoyono said on Feb. 13 that he would hand the matter back to the Bogor municipal government and the Ministry of Religion.


“I have turned over [the issue] to the Bogor city government assisted by the minister of Religion, so that worship may be held at the church just as other faiths in this country do,” he said at a televised press conference.


Yudhoyono later told reporters that such matters should be handled by local administrations in accordance with the Indonesia’s regional autonomy law, according to The Jakarta Post.


The president’s statement constitutes “a false argument to give legitimacy to his decision for not getting involved in the dispute,” lawmaker Eva Kusuma Sundari of the Indonesian Democratic Party told thePost.


At the press conference, Yudhoyono said he hoped the problem could be settled in a manner that satisfies all parties, and that the government is serious in implementing the 1945 Constitution, which states that every citizen should be able to worship in a peaceful orderly manner.


Other such cases have arisen since 2002, he said, adding that he hoped the respective mayors, regents and governors could resolve them.


“I want Christians to be able to worship in this country,” he said.


Yudhoyono said he hoped that an extra-legal solution – presumably some kind of local agreement, even though the parties in dispute are at an impasse – would lead to quick implementation of the Supreme Court decision to reinstate the GKI Yasmin church permit.


Worship at National Palace
The GKI congregation, along with sympathizers from other religious faiths, has held worship services three times in front of the National Palace.


Now forbidden to worship even on the roadside strip in front of the building that Bogor municipal government has sealed, the congregation gathered at 1 p.m. on Feb. 12, enthusiastic but hot under umbrellas. The service lasted 30 minutes and was led by the Rev. Ujang Tanusaputra.


Church lawyer Jayadi Damanik said afterward that the service took place in front of the National Palace to remind Yudhoyono and other government officials not to close their eyes to the plight of the church. He said he hoped that the central government would take concrete steps to stop GKI Yasmin’s experience of discrimination, threats and prohibition of worship.


The Coordinator of Religious Freedom Defense Team, Saor Siagian, said that if the president does not order Bogor Mayor Budiarto to carry out the decision of the Supreme Court to remove the seal on GKI Yasmin, then the president will have become a “provocateur.”


“Yes, the president will be a provocateur because he was not firm with his underling, the mayor of Bogor, who refuses to carry out the decision of the Supreme Court,” Saor Siagian told the gathered crowd.


ExpelledThe Indonesian president’s appeal for local authorities to work out an agreement with the church came five days after Islamic political parties in the Muslim-majority nation had church representatives ejected from a meeting with the minister of Religion and others.


After twice cancelling meetings, the House of Representatives held a meeting with the coordinating minister for Politics, Law, and Order, the minister of Religion, the minister of the Interior, the Ombudsman and GKI Yasmin church officials on Feb. 8. The GKI delegation included the spokesperson, the lawyer, the pastor, elders and church members along with interfaith groups such as the Islamic Anshor Youth Movement, the Unity in Diversity Alliance, the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace and others.


Representatives from Islamic parties such as the Unified Development Party and the Prosperity and Justice Party protested the presence of the GKI Yasmin members in the room, claiming that other community groups from the Yasmin Park subdivision of Bogor had not been invited.


After 45 minutes of debate, the GKI Yasmin representatives were ejected from the meeting room and told to sit in the balcony. GKI spokesperson Bona Sigalingging said that he was most upset with the order.


“We felt that we were fairly invited here, and we had hoped to speak,” Sigalingging said as the representatives moved to the balcony. “Nevertheless, we will follow the law and honor this body. We are very upset with the order [to move], but we are ready to obey.”


Interior Minister Gamawan Fauzi told the meeting that because the issue was in the midst of a legal process, enforcement of the Supreme Court order should wait.


“We wish this thing to be finished nicely,” he said.


He offered a temporary relocation of the congregation – the Harmony Hotel, 200 meters from the sealed church building.


“It would be a temporary relocation until the building permit problem is settled,” he said.


In addition, Fauzi said that the Bogor government was willing to purchase a piece of land to relocate the church.


“If Bogor doesn’t have enough money to do this, I will help as long as GKI Yasmin worships at that new place,” he said.


He also suggested that the church stop worshipping on the roadside strip.


“It is best to worship in a building that the government has suggested,” he said adding that he believed that the problem of permitting a house of worship would be settled amicably within six months.


The House committee requested information from the National Ombudsman, and Vice Ombusdman Azlaini Agus reported that there had been disobedience to legal decisions with the force of law, specifically the decision of the Supreme Court. Agus said the governor of West Java and the mayor of Bogor had not carried out the 2011 recommendation of the ombudsman to rescind the mayoral decree revoking the GKI building permit.


The recommendation was given, Azlaini added, so that the minister of the Interior could oversee its enactment.


“We have done our work,” he said. “If our recommendation is not carried out within 60 days by the governor or the mayor, then we are to send a notice to the president, the House of Representatives, and to publish the news,” he said. “That’s as far as our duty goes. The situation has not been resolved, which means that there has been disregard for the decision of the court, which carries the force of law.”


The meeting ended with the conclusion that the central government and the Bogor municipal government should resolve the GKI Yasmin problem by involving all elements of the community in a peaceful orderly manner – as soon as possible, but without a time limit.


After the meeting, the GKI spokesperson Sigalingging said that GKI Yasmin firmly rejects moving to another building. According to him, the building the government has designated is not suited for worship.


“We want a suitable place in accord with the recommendations of the Supreme Court and the ombudsman,” he said. “Because of this, we will not relocate,” he stated.


END

Embattled Indonesian Church Services Disrupted Again

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

BOGOR, WEST JAVA, INDONESIA (ANS) -- A crowd of Muslim hard-liners disrupted about 100 members of the embattled GKI Yasmin congregation as they held divine services at a member's home in Bogor, West Java, on Sunday (January 22, 2012).

Image from a past protest over the embattled church (Photo: www.ucanews.com)

“We were conducting our worship at one member's home before people from Forkami and Garis came to our place,” 

GKI Yasmin spokeswoman Dwiati Novita Rini told The Jakarta Post (www.thejakartapost.com) over the telephone on Sunday.

Dwiati said she did not know why the groups - the Islamic Reform Movement (Garis) and the Muslim Communications Forum (Forkami) - were protesting.

The congregation resisted efforts by about 50 Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) officers to stop their service, Dwiati said.

“The Satpol PP came around 9 a.m. and were trying to stop our activity because they didn't want any clashes to happen. [House of Representatives member] Lily Wahid was negotiating with one of the Satpol PP officers and the congregation could continue worship,” she said.

The congregation completed their service peacefully around 10 a.m. and the demonstrators from Forkami and Garis left the congregation member's home around 11 a.m, Dwiati added.

“The Bogor City administration, citing permit application problems, has barred the congregation from conducting religious services for more than two years, defying a 2010 Supreme Court ruling guaranteeing the congregation's right to hold services at its church building,” added the Jakarta story.

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Dan Wooding, 71, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries and also provides a regular commentary for Worship Life Radio on KWVE. You can follow Dan Wooding on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books, one of which is his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link.

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** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

Anti-Christian Incidents Nearly Doubled in Indonesia in 2011

Attempts to institutionalize intolerance, close churches increase.

NEW DELHI, January 4 (CDN) — Acts of violence and intolerance against Christians in Indonesia almost doubled in 2011, with an Islamist campaign to close down churches symbolizing the plight of the religious minority.


The Indonesian Protestant Church Union, locally known as PGI, counted 54 acts of violence and other violations against Christians in 2011, up from 30 in 2010.


The number of such incidents against religious minorities in general also grew, from 198 in 2010 to 276 in 2011, but the worst is perhaps yet to come if authorities continue to overlook the threat of extremism, said a representative from the Jakarta-based Wahid Institute, a Muslim organization that promotes tolerance.


Rumadi, who goes by a single name, said his Wahid Institute also observed an attempt to institutionalize intolerance in this archipelago of about 238 million people, of whom about 88 percent Muslim. At least 36 regulations to ban religious practices deemed deviant from Islam were drafted or implemented in the country in 2011.


A Jakarta-based civil rights group, the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, noted that both the government and groups in society were responsible for the incidents, with the main violators including religious extremist organizations such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).


Indonesia’s hot-bed of extremism is West Java, the most populous province that includes the nation’s capital city of Jakarta. This province alone witnessed 160 incidents against religious minorities. In the 1950s, West Java was the base of an Islamist group, Darul Islam, whose splinter groups are still active, fighting the “secular” government and religious minorities.


Church Closures 
Churches in West Java, which has about 520,000 Christians, also suffered the most last year. On Christmas Day, two churches in West Java’s Bogor city bore the brunt of growing extremism.


“Islamist vigilantes screamed and yelled at us and threatened us, as we sought to hold a Christmas service,” a leader of the Gereja Kristen Indonesia, also known as the GKI or the Yasmin Church, told Compass in an email.


“We could not hold Christmas service in our own church for a second year,” said the source, who requested anonymity.


The city administration, allegedly under pressure from local extremist groups, sealed off the half-constructed building of the church, situated in the Taman Yasmin housing complex on a street named H. Abdullah Bin Nuh, in 2010. Before Christmas that year, the Supreme Court ordered the city mayor, Diani Budiarto, to unseal the church building, and later an ombudsman also recommended the same, but the official refused to oblige. The church has held worship services on a sidewalk, with police cordoning off the compound, since April 2010.


On Dec. 25, church members insisted they wanted to celebrate Christmas in the building, which is legally theirs, but police prevented them from even going near the structure, the source said. The congregation met in a church member’s home.


Showing solidarity with the church were members of Ansor, youth wing of one of Indonesia’s largest Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU); interfaith activists, including the sister and youngest daughter of former president Abdurrahman Wahid; and members of the Asian Muslim Action Network. But they could do little to help.


“The police first allowed the vigilantes to stand next to us, and then moved them just about three meters away,” the church leader said. “The vigilantes issued threats to us, but the police did not arrest them.”


Having overseen the sealing of the Yasmin church, Muslim extremists are now targeting a 2,000-member Catholic church in Bogor city’s Parung area. The Santo Joannes Baptista (St. John the Baptist) church was able to hold its mass on Christmas Eve, followed by a Christmas Day service, although authorities had formally ordered the church to stop all activities.


The church building was constructed six years ago, but days before Christmas the head of Bogor district, Rachmat Yasin, issued the cessation order arguing that its construction violated planning rules due to its proximity to a residential area. Soon after the order, a group called the Muslim Community of Parung Bogor placed a banner near the church, stating that it was in support of Rachmat’s move to ban church activities, according to The Jakarta Globe.


“The site is not for a church, but it was a house turned into a house of worship. It is a violation,” Rachmat told the daily. “Moreover, they worship on a regular basis. It is a mistake.”


The head of the Indonesian Bishops Conference, Benny Susetyo, said there had been no conflict between the church and the people living in its vicinity for six years.


“The problem arose when a group of people started to disturb the calm in the region around the house of worship,” he told The Jakarta Globe.


Susetyo added that district authorities had repeatedly rejected demands made by the church for a permit, without giving any reason.


“This is despite us having clearly followed the procedure for the construction of houses of worship.”


Islamist groups have demanded a similar action against five other churches in Pracimantoro town in Central Java province, the source added. These churches – Pentecostal Church of Indonesia in the Ngalu Wetan area, Church of all Nations and Bethel Tabernacle Church in the Gebangharjo area, Javanese Christian Church in the Godang area, and Nazarene Christian Church in the Lebak area – have operational permits to hold church services. They had applied for building permits, but authorities never responded.


Central Java is also a hub of Islamist extremists. Last Sept. 25, a suicide bomber said to be an Islamist terrorist blew himself up at the gate of the Sepenuh Injil Bethel Church (Bethel Full Gospel Church) in Solo city, injuring about 20 people.


Sealing of church buildings and the refusal to grant building permits top the list of major violations of Christians’ religious rights in Indonesia, according to the Setara Institute. A 2006 joint ministerial decree requires signatures from congregations and residents living nearby, as well as approval from the local administration, to build a house of worship.


Government Inaction
The Setara Institute criticized President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for inaction. The president urged people to be tolerant in at least 19 of his speeches in 2011, but he has not backed his words with action, it noted in a recent report.


Intolerance has steadily been increasing in Indonesia, whose constitution is based on the doctrine of Pancasila – five principles upholding the nation’s belief in the one and only God and social justice, humanity, unity and democracy for all.


The Setara report cited a February incident in which a mob of about 1,500 Muslim extremists brutally killed three members of the Ahmadiyya community, which is seen as heretical by mainstream Muslims, in the province of Banten near West Java.


“Cases of intolerance have intensified this year, numbering more than last year, and at the core of the problem is poor law enforcement by the government,” Setara deputy chairman Bonar Tigor Naipospos told The Jakarta Globe.



END

Indonesian Mayor’s Defiance Said to Show Government Weakness

Civil rights groups will file suit against Bogor over refusal to reinstate church license.

JAKARTA, Indonesia, December 19 (CDN) — The Bogor mayor’s refusal to obey a Supreme Court order to restore a congregation’s permit casts doubt on the ability of the Indonesian government to enforce the rule of law, according to a leading rights group.


Muslim demonstrators and area police have continued to obstruct the services of the Indonesian Christian Church (Gereja Kristen Indonesia, or GKI) congregation in the Yasmin area of Bogor, West Java, which is worshiping on a roadside or in a member’s home as the Bogor city government sealed its building last year. The city is also reportedly threatening to tear its church building down.


A spokesman for the Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy told a press conference on Nov. 30 that the process for resolving the conflict has gone on far too long since the Dec. 9, 2010 Supreme Court ruling to reinstate the building permit of the GKI Yasmin church. Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto also rejected the July 8 recommendation of the National Ombudsman Institute to reinstate the permit, leaving the congregation to worship on a small strip of land as 15 to 20 Muslim demonstrators taunt them.


“Defiance of the Supreme Court decision and the recommendation of the Judicial Commission is clear evidence of denial of the rule of law,” said Bonar Tigor Naipospos, vice-chairman of Setara.


Responding to a suggestion by Parliament head Marsuki Ali that the conflict be resolved through further community discussion and “renegotiation,” Setara’s Naipospos said such an approach would be erroneous – setting a precedent that court decisions can be ignored and thus weakening the rule of law. Ali and other members of parliament met with church leaders on Nov. 29.


The GKI Yasmin case is critical in determining whether Indonesia will be governed by law or by special interest groups, Naipospos said.


“If we can get through this test, the supremacy of law is safe,” he said.


Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono needs to order the mayor of Bogor to obey the court’s decision, Naipospos said, adding that Yudhoyono should set an example of how law should be upheld.


“It is not enough to entrust this matter to the Minister of the Interior, Gamawan Fauzi, who actually supports the insubordination of the Bogor mayor,” Naipospos said.


Lawsuit
A group of civil rights groups plan to file suit against the Bogor municipal government over the mayor’s defiance, said a member of the legal team from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute who goes by a single name, Sidik.


Setara, the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, the Commission on Lost Persons and Victims of Violence and the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace plan to file a citizens’ lawsuit by the middle of next year, Sidik said.


“We are going to file a citizen lawsuit against the Bogor municipal government,” Sidik said, adding that it will be on behalf of all citizens who have the right to enforcement of law for a more stable country, along with the GKI Yasmin church.


A legal practitioner who founded the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, Adnan Buyung Nasution, suggested either mediation should be undertaken involving the GKI Yasmin church, the Bogor mayor, the minister of Interior and the coordinating minister for Politics and Security, or else the Supreme Court should issue an order to carry out its decision.


“Then the mayor can be arrested because he has broken the law,” he said. “It is inappropriate that such a person be a mayor.”


Nasution said that the Supreme Court has the right to order the government and police to act.


“I want the nation to be firm, but the government has done nothing,” he said. “If a decision of the highest [body] is ignored, where is this country headed?”


Tearing Down the ChurchFar from complying with the court order, the head of the Bogor civil service police, Bambang Budianto, reported that the GKI Yasmin church building is going to be torn down, according to the Bogorplus.com website.


The Bogor government is already preparing a fund to compensate the church for the loss of its building, Budianto said.


“Soon the Bogor government is going to pay to replace the GKI Yasmin [building],” he told Bogorplus.com on Nov. 6, adding that the city of Bogor will find a new location where the GKI Yasmin congregation can worship peacefully.


In response, Bona Sigalingging, spokesperson for the GKI Yasmin legal team, asserted that such actions would be “most grave” and illegal. The decisions of the Supreme Court and the ombudsman are both binding, he said.


“Therefore, if the mayor and his underlings tear down the church building, they are in a dangerous position legally,” he said.


Sigalingging said that there have been no discussions between GKI Yasmin and the Bogor government about demolishing the church building.


“If they tear down the church building, it would be the same as tearing apart the unity of the country,” he said.


The Rev. SAE Nababan, president of the World Council of Churches visited the GKI Yasmin church on Dec. 4 in order to assess the situation in person. A pastor originally from Indonesia, Nababan was there to encourage the congregation to continue Sunday services even though they were carried out in a member’s home.


When Compass observed a GKI Yasmin worship service on a roadside strip between the church fence and the street on Nov. 13, members of the Islamic Community Communication Forum (Forum Komunikasi Masyarakat Islam) demonstrated against it, saying it disturbed the general welfare.


Police were on guard nearby, but they also interfered by parking their vehicles in front of the church. The congregation decided to move their worship to a member’s home.


END

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin -- August 2011 Update

By Elizabeth Kendal
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 123
Special to ASSIST News Service


AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- 'Then I said, "I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High." I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds . . . You are the God who works wonders.' (Psalm 77:10-12,14a ESV)


AUGUST 2011 UPDATE -- during August we prayed for . . .


INDONESIA (RLPB 119), where Christians are facing escalating violent persecution fuelled by impunity, primarily in Papua and West Java, especially the Bogor and Bekasi districts. It is reported there were 64 violent attacks on religious freedom in 2010, up from 18 in 2009 and 17 in 2008.

UPDATE: In December 2010, Indonesia's Supreme Court and Ombudsman Commission ruled in favour of the Taman Yasmin Indonesian Christian Church in Bogor, West Java, confirming the legality of its building permit. Despite this, the church remains sealed and Bogor authorities continue to obstruct and threaten the members. Now the mayor of Bogor, Diani Budiarto, is pushing for a law to forbid churches opening on streets bearing Islamic names. The Yasmin church is on Jalan Abdullah bin Nuh, a street named after the noted Islamic cleric Abdullah bin Nuh (died 1987). President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is remaining silent on the issue. If mayor Budiarto can defy the courts with impunity, the law will be rendered meaningless. Pray for Indonesia.

SUDAN (RLPB 120), where the predominantly Christian Nuba peoples of South Kordofan are facing starvation at the hands of a genocidal regime.
UPDATE: On Tuesday 23 August, while visiting Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, Sudan's President Omar el-Bashir announced a two-week ceasefire. He also confirmed that no humanitarian aid groups would be permitted to enter the war-ravaged region where hundreds of thousands of predominantly Christian Nuba have been displaced. The Secretary-General of the SPLM-N, Yasir Arman, is accusing Bashir of 'using food as a weapon'. Arman regards Bashir's declaration of a ceasefire as nothing more than a 'public relations stunt'. He believes Bashir is actually preparing for a major military offensive in South Kordofan. Despite the ceasefire, bombing is reportedly continuing. Pray for God to intervene for his people.

VIETNAM (RLPB 121), where religious persecution is escalating against Christian activists in the cities and the ethnic minority Christians in the Central Highlands.
UPDATE: AsiaNews reports (29 August) that the disappeared Catholic activists are imprisoned in Hanoi and will go on trial shortly. They are charged with attempting to 'overthrow the people's administration', under Clause 2, Article 79 of the Vietnam Penal Code. Sources told AsiaNews the prisoners have been allowed to receive food and clothing but not prayer books. The fate of two Protestants arrested at the same time is unknown. In the coming weeks, Vietnamese Christians across the nation -- Catholics and Protestants -- will hold candlelight prayer vigils for religious freedom. Pray in solidarity with them.

PAKISTAN (RLPB 122), where Christian security is increasingly tenuous.
UPDATE: As noted in RLPB 122, anti-blasphemy law campaigner Salman Taseer was assassinated on 4 January. Now his son Shahbaz Taseer has been kidnapped, seized in an ambush on 26 August. Some experts believe Shahbaz might be used as a bargaining chip by militants seeking the acquittal of Salman Taseer's assassin, Mumtaz Qadri. Meanwhile, in increasingly Islamised and Talibanised Karachi, a virtual war between militias backed by political parties and sectarian groups has left some 400 dead. The violence is also hastening the ethnic-religious polarisation of the city. Christians are especially vulnerable amidst such lawlessness. Christian homes and churches have been threatened and pelted with rocks recently in Karachi, mostly by the ethnic Pashtuns. They are backed by the Taliban and live in Pashtun-dominated districts near the Christian colony. Pray for all Pakistan's Christians and religious liberty advocates.

AUGUST 2011 ROUND-UP -- also this month . . .


* IRAQ: MANY CHURCHES BOMBED IN KIRKUK
On Monday 15 August a bomb exploded outside Saint Ephrem's Syrian Orthodox Church in Al Ummal Square, central Kirkuk, causing major damage but no casualties. It was the third church bombing in Kirkuk in two weeks. The previous night, four bombs exploded simultaneously inside Kirkuk's Saint Afram Syriac Orthodox Church. Whilst there were no casualties, it was the first time insurgents had managed to detonate bombs planted inside a church. On 2 August, 15 people were wounded including church staff when a car bomb exploded about 5:30am outside the Holy Family Syrian Catholic church in Kirkuk. Bombs were subsequently found and defused outside the Saint Giwargis Church of the East and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in the Almass district. Kirkuk Archbishop Louis Sako told Aid to the Church in Need, 'This is only happening because we are Christians. Maybe the people responsible want to empty the city of Christians. Please pray for us. Pray for peace and stability. We are afraid.' Pray for Iraq's besieged Christians.

* IVORY COAST: ONGOING DIRE SITUATION FOR CHRISTIANS
The UN peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast is deeply concerned about continuing serious human rights abuses in Ivory Coast. From mid-July to mid-August the mission documented 26 extra-judicial killings, 85 illegal arrests and 11 rapes, all committed by the former rebels who now make up the official army of Ivory Coast. According to the acting human rights chief in the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), Guillaume Ngefa, predominantly Christian ethnic groups continue to suffer cruel and inhumane treatment and violation of property rights at the hands of pro-Ouattara Islamic forces. Pray for the Christians of Ivory Coast.

* NIGERIA: CHRISTIANS TARGETED IN PLATEAU STATE
Twenty-four Christians were killed in Plateau State during August in targeted attacks by Islamic militants in collusion with uniformed Muslims from the Nigerian Army. Ratsa Foron village was attacked on 11 and 15 August: 6 dead. Chwelnyap community in Jos was attacked on 14 August: 2 dead. Heipang village was attacked on 15 August leaving 10 dead, including 9 members of one family. Kwi, Loton and Jwol villages were attacked on 21 August: 6 dead. In each attack uniformed soldiers of the Nigerian military, including those from the Special Task Force (a unit tasked with stopping sectarian attacks), accompanied the militants and even participated in the killings. Plateau governor Jonah Jang has called for immediate withdrawal of the Nigerian Army because, he said, Muslims in the army are taking sides with the Islamist assailants. This situation is extremely serious.

Gada-biu is the Christian-dominated district of North Jos Local Government Area where multiple bombs exploded on 24 December 2010 resulting in around 90 deaths. (Boko Haram claimed responsibility.) Consequently, local Christians did not want Muslims celebrating Eid-el-Fitri (end of Ramadan) in that area and so made a formal request that they celebrate elsewhere. On Monday 29 Aug 2011 strife erupted between the district's local ethnic Christians and Muslims going down Rukuba Road to celebrate Eid-el-Fitri in the sensitive area. The clash left 20 people dead and more than 100 wounded. Reportedly 'most' of the dead and wounded were shot by soldiers firing indiscriminately. At least 50 vehicles, 100 motorcycles and two shops were torched. Accounts vary widely about who provoked whom and what actually occurred. Tensions are high. Please pray for Nigeria.

* ZIMBABWE: ANGLICAN PASTORS EVICTED
On 4 August Zimbabwe's Chief Justice issued a temporary ruling placing all Anglican properties under the control of excommunicated, pro-Mugabe bishop Norbert Kunonga. (See 'Zimbabwe: Chief Justice grants excommunicated Kunonga control over Anglican properties', Religious Liberty Monitoring, 17 Aug). According to The Zimbabwean (27 August) Kunonga's thugs have evicted 27 Anglican pastors and their families violently from their church-owned homes since the ruling was issued. Reverend Jonah Mudowaya was severely beaten in Chinhoyi on Wednesday 24 August by a Kunonga gang. In a bid to stop the evictions, lawyers representing the Anglican Diocese of Harare have filed a Constitutional appeal against the Chief Justice's ruling on the grounds it was issued while the matter was the subject of a Supreme Court appeal. The Chief Justice has noted the Constitutional appeal but says it will not interfere with his order. While the Anglican Church awaits the Supreme Court ruling, the excommunicated Kunonga is exploiting the opportunity this gives him to seize the church's assets. Please pray for justice in Zimbabwe.

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. This prayer bulletin was initially written for the Australian Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (AEA RLC). Elizabeth Kendal's blogs: Religious Liberty Monitoring and Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin

Motives for Church Burnings in Indonesia Questioned

Outside Islamist groups use lack of permits as pretext for violence.

By Victor Raqual Ambarita

 

JAKARTA, Indonesia, August 17 (Compass Direct News) – Suspected Islamists were behind the burning of three homes used as churches on Sumatra Island’s Riau Province this month, though a political motive may also have played a role, Christian leaders said.

 

Muslim mobs burned the meeting places of a Batak Karo Protestant Church (GBKP) congregation and a Pentecostal Church in Indonesia (GPDI) group on Aug. 1, and that of a Methodist Church of Indonesia on Aug. 2, all in Kuantan Singingi district.

 

Provincial GBKP leader Sahat Tarigan reportedly said about 100 people on motorcycles arrived at the home at 11 p.m. on Aug. 1, throwing stones, threatening church members with knives and ultimately pouring gasoline and setting it on fire. A number of church members were inside painting at the time of the attack, but there were no casualties, Tarigan told Radio 68H News Agency.

 

The same mob also set the GPDI home on fire some five kilometers (three miles) away, he said.

 

“We do not know where they came from, but certainly we have no problem with local people,” he told Radio 68H. “Those who burned the churches are not residents who live around us.”

 

Tarigan said the home where the GBKP church meets was built about three years ago, and area resident have never objected to any worship there. He said he did not know the reason mobs set the home on fire, though Metrotvnews reported that an area Muslim said the site lacks a permit and that the singing bothers Muslims fasting by day for Ramadan.

 

But the executive secretary of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia, Jeirry Sumampow, said he suspected political motives. An election in April in which all churches in the Kuantan Tengah sub-district backed the winning regent may have played a role, he said.

 

“I regret that the church has been the victim of political in-fighting,” Sumampow told Compass.

 

He said those who burned the house churches were not dressed as hard-line Muslim demonstrators customarily are. He noted that the incident occurred only in the one sub-district where the churches backed the victorious candidate.

 

“At the time of the election there was tension, because the Christians in the sub-district openly stated their support for the candidate who is now elected,” he said.

 

Sumampow said he regretted that police were slow to react to the attacks of Aug. 1, which contributed to the third house church burning on Aug. 2.

 

The governor of Riau Province urged citizens to refrain from vigilante violence. Riau Provincial Administration spokesman Chairul Rizky said the governor ordered the regent of Kuantan Singingi to urge residents to resolve conflicts with dialogue rather than force.

 

Rizky said that although the house churches do not have permits, arson cannot be tolerated. Though the governor ordered police to protect church sites that have permits, this does not mean that people can attack those that do not have permits, he said.

 

“The governor ordered police to protect places of worship that have been permitted, and to not let anyone take the law into their own hands to solve problems,” Rizky told Radio 68H. “So, we hope this problem can be resolved in a short time, so that Christians can pray without being disturbed.”

 

He added that the three house churches did not have permits because their leaders sought only housing authorization, rather than church permits.

 

The head of Criminal Police in Kuansing, AKP Darmawan, confirmed the attacks, telling Vivanews.com the structures set on fire were not church buildings but private homes made of wood.

 

The vice chairman of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, Bonar Tigor Naipospos, said he regretted the burning of churches during Ramadan, adding that Muslims who are fasting during the month are supposed to be able to restrain their passions.

 

The former chairman of the Muhammadiyah socio-economic reform movement in Indonesia, H. Ahmad Shafi Ma’arif, was furious over the church burnings.

 

“Only crazy people want to burn churches, and no matter what the reason, such incidents cannot be tolerated,” Ma’arif reportedly said, adding that such incidents continue to occur because law enforcement is weak.

 

At press time Riau Provincial Police had reportedly questioned 21 witnesses and arrested two suspects.

 

Church Shuttered

In West Jakarta, about 100 hard-line Muslims from the Betawi Rempug Forum (FBR) went to a three-storey shop where Maranata Bible Church meets in Jalan Kacang Tanah, Bojong Indah, on July 31 and demanded that it close because it was operating without a permit.

 

After meeting with the Islamist group for half an hour, church leaders agreed to stop worship services and remove the church sign until it obtains a permit, though no area residents had complained about the church.

 

Promising to obtain the permit from the mayor of West Jakarta immediately, Pastor Silas Kusah said he had already obtained permission from local residents for the church to operate. Area residents have never complained about the existence of the church, which has been active for three-and-a- half years, he said.

 

The head of the Cengkareng sub-district reportedly said the church had no permits because residents had presented no objections.

 

The Setara Institute’s Bonar said that as no one in the area disputed the existence of the church, there should be no problems with the processing of its application for a permit.

 

www.compassdirect.org

 

END

 

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Copyright 2011 Compass Direct News

Mayor in Indonesia Again Balks at Granting Church Permit

Bogor chief dismisses ombudsman’s recommendation to obey Supreme Court ruling.

By Victor Raqual Ambarita

 

JAKARTA, Indonesia, August 15 (Compass Direct News) – A mayor in West Java who disregarded a Supreme Court ruling to reinstate the building permit of a church in Bogor has now dismissed a recommendation by the National Ombudsman Institute to do so.

 

Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto rejected the recommendation to reinstate the permit for the Indonesian Christian Church (Gereja Kristen Indonesia, or GKI) Yasmin Bogor Church last month, leaving the congregation to worship on a small strip of land as 15 to 20 Muslim demonstrators taunt them.

 

“The Ombudsman’s recommendation is only a suggestion,” the mayor told Tempo magazine. 

 

Church spokesman Bona Sigalingging said at a press conference last month that 15 people who claimed that they were from the neighborhood near the church site disrupted services on July 3 and 10.

 

“They demonstrated and insisted that the church stop services that were already underway,” Sigalingging said.

 

He said the mayor sent two letters to the church, one in May and one on July 9, urging the congregation to cease services on the roadside strip. In the letter he claimed that the church created a general annoyance and suggested they worship at the Harmony Building some 500 meters from the sealed GKI Yasmin Church building.

 

The congregation paid no heed to the letter, Sigalingging said, because the church’s worship on the roadside is a result of the mayor’s own doing.

 

“We worship in the roadside strip because the mayor has locked and sealed our church, which is against the Supreme Court decision,” he said. “If Budiarto had not locked and sealed our church, we would certainly not worship by the roadside.”

 

Sigalingging said holding services at the Harmony Building is not an appropriate solution because it was not designed for worship, even though church members do not like worshipping on the roadside in the torrid heat and unexpected rain showers.

 

Sigalingging acknowledged that the congregation had used the Harmony Building in early January for worship, a temporary arrangement the mayor had offered while awaiting a final decision from the Supreme Court.

 

“And the mayor promised that he would abide by whatever decision was handed down by the Supreme Court,” he said.

 

Rather than complying with the Supreme Court decision, he said, the mayor made revocation of the GKI building permit permanent.

 

“Based on this experience, we no longer believe the mayor,” he said.

 

In addition, Sigalingging said, on March 7 the Bogor City government verbally offered the church relocation to one of four locations.

 

“We did not respond to this offer, because relocation is not the solution,” he said.

 

The Supreme Court decision was final, he said, and the mayor should have complied instead of “trying to bargain.”

 

He cited the experience of another church in West Java, the Batak Christian Protestant Church (Huria Kristen Batak Protestan, or HKBP) in Ciketing, Bekasi, which has been promised a building permit but has received nothing. The church is still meeting in a community organization building, and the Bekasi City government has declined to issue a building permit.

 

“Referring to the law that exists, we reject the offer of relocation,” Sigalingging said.

 

The GKI Yasmin Bogor congregation is determined to continue worshipping on the roadside if the government refuses to open the seal on the church. “As long as the mayor refuses to take off the seal, we are going to continue worshipping on the roadside,” he said.

 

The vice president of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, Bonar Tigor Naipospos, said that there is suspicion that the Bogor City government intends to prevent the existence of the GKI Yasmin church by all possible means.

 

The demonstrators against the church give reasons that are artificial and senseless, Naipospos said.

 

“Why are they demonstrating now, and not two years ago, when the church was in the planning stages?” he said.

 

Budiarto has staged an attack because he has clearly broken the law, he added.

 

“The decision of the Supreme Court is final; why did he revoke the GKI Yasmin building permit?” he said. “Similar problems are going to arise, if this is left [unresolved].”

 

Naipospos speculated that if the problem remains unaddressed, other conflicts could appear.

 

“This is very dangerous, and I worry that if this problem languishes there will be incidents such as occurred at Ciketing [where a church elder was stabbed], or at Cikeusik [where three members of the Ahmadiyah sect were beaten to death by a mob],” he said.

 

www.compassdirect.org

 

END

 

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Copyright 2011 Compass Direct News

 

Indonesia: Dangerous Days for Christians

-- especially in West Java & Papua. Please pray.

By Elizabeth Kendal
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 119 Special to ASSIST News Service

AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- China is not landlocked, but it might as well be. China's coast does not open to the Pacific Ocean (where the US Navy is supreme) but opens to the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. To get to the Pacific Ocean, Chinese ships must navigate through archipelagos controlled by various US allies: Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. Indonesia is especially strategic, straddling the Pacific and Indian Oceans and controlling some of the world's busiest shipping lanes. Indonesia's geo-strategic value is rising in line with China's economic and military ascendancy. Because Beijing is aggressively courting Jakarta, the US is reluctant to challenge Indonesia over declining religious liberty. Because President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is dependent on Islamist support in parliament, he is reluctant to challenge Islamists over escalating and increasingly violent Islamic intolerance. All this leaves Indonesia's Christian minority increasingly vulnerable.

On 24 January an Indonesian court sentenced three soldiers to eight, nine and ten months imprisonment for insubordination after video footage emerged showing the soldiers torturing Papuan civilians -- beating, burning, knifing and suffocating them. Whilst the US expressed regret over the leniency of the sentences, they praised the fact that the soldiers were tried at all, hailing it as 'progress'. (Without the trial, the US would have been obliged by its own laws to withhold military aid.)

On 6 February a 1500-strong Muslim mob attacked a house in Cikeusik village, Banten Province, West Java, where a small number of Ahmaddiya Muslims -- regarded as heretical by mainstream Muslims -- were meeting for worship. Video footage posted on Youtube and broadcast worldwide shows Muslims hacking and bludgeoning the 'infidels' to death as the assailants' supporters cheer and shout 'Allahu Akbar' (Allah is great). Three Ahmadiyya were killed and five we re seriously wounded, and Ahmaddiya property was torched. On Thursday 28 July Serang District Court in Java sentenced 12 of the instigators and killers to prison for between three and six months. As the deputy director for Asia of Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson, notes: 'The Cikeusik trial sends the chilling message that attacks on minorities like the Ahmadiyya will be treated lightly by the legal system.'

Religious liberty is seriously threatened in Indonesia and Christian security is increasingly tenuous. West Java is a hotbed of militant Islamic fundamentalism where Christians are less than two percent of the population. As tensions escalate and protection diminishes, Christians in West Java and restive Papua become increasingly vulnerable. In June last year, at the second Bekasi Islamic Congress held in Al-Azhar Mosque, Bekasi, West Java, Muslims there were instructed to form Islamic paramilitaries in readiness for a war against Christians.

See 'Bekasi, West Java, Indonesia: Dhimmitude or death' (By Elizabeth Kendal, 12 July 2010)
On 23 July 2011 Fides [Catholic] News Service reported they had received an 'SOS' appeal from The Indonesian Christian Church (Gereja Kristen Indonesia -- GKI), a Protestant denomination. This warned of such tension that 'the Christian faithful are at risk of mass persecution'. The GKI cites impunity as a major factor fuelling the Islamic fundamentalist trend towards violence. In Bogor and Bekasi, suburbs of Jakarta, West Java, local authorities are defying the law (including Supreme Court rulings) at the expense of Christians to appease belligerent Islamic fundamentalists. At a recent City Council meeting in Bogor, authorities threatened 'mass mobilisation' against 'the Christians of the GKI'. In other words: submit in silence or risk suffering and death!

Islamic zeal and belligerence will escalate as Ramadan progresses during August. These are dangerous days for the vulnerable Christians of West Java and restive Papua. Though the world's powers abandon them, our supreme and sovereign God never will.

THEREFORE, LET US PRAY THAT GOD WILL:

* draw his people into prayerful dependence, that they might 'wait for him' (Isaiah 30:18) and see his salvation; through it all, may the Indonesian Church -- in grace and by the power of the Holy Spirit -- be light, salt and yeast for the glory of God.
* intervene for the protection of his people and the advance of the gospel in Indonesia.
* expose the intolerance of Islam, while frustrating the schemes of the wicked (Psalm 146:9).
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DANGEROUS DAYS FOR CHRISTIANS IN INDONESIA
Because President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono depends on Islamist support in parliament, he is reluctant to challenge the issue of increasingly violent Islamic intolerance. Because the ascendant China is courting Indonesia, the US is reluctant to challenge Indonesia over its serious decline in religious liberty. West Java is a hotbed of militant Islamic fundamentalism where Christians are less than two percent of the population. Last year Muslims there were called to form Islamic paramilitary forces in readiness for jihad. As tensions grow and protection diminishes, Christians in West Java and Papua become increasingly vulnerable. Islamic zeal and belligerence will escalate as Ramadan progresses during August. A city council has threatened 'mass mobilisation' against the Christian population, for whom these are dangerous days. Please pray for God's intervention and for divine protection.

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. This prayer bulletin was initially written for the Australian Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (AEA RLC). Elizabeth Kendal's blogs: Religious Liberty Monitoring and Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin