Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jaganath69]

Well put, Bignate. The book I mentioned also details the use of Laskar Jihad, the Islamist paramilitary group as a tool for destabilization of the Wahid government by certain officers of the TNI. The conflict in the Maluku region, particularly Ambon also saw a fair amount of religious proxy violence and rather than being a straight out Muslim vs Christian affair, was contained in the larger context of a power struggle for the local authority.

[bucheon bum]

[Leslie Cheswyck]

[jaganath69]

[Leslie Cheswyck]

[mithridates]

[bigverne]

[manlyboy]

I lived in Indonesia for two years. Studied the language. Have Indonesian friends here in Korea. Keep an eye on the news there. Not as clued in as Jaga, but do have a little experience.
I was in Kupang, West Timor in 98 when there were "Christian" riots in retaliation to "Muslim" attacks on Christians elsewhere in the country. I saw two mosques burned to the ground, and a few people get their heads kicked in, but no one was killed, least of all were any schoolgirls mutilated. The whole thing stank of being politically motivated and orchestrated as the local student activists I knew, who had their finger on the pulse of such things, had no idea how or why the rioting started. So yes, I do believe there is a wider political struggle using religion as a cover here. However, atrocities like the one in Sulawesi are almost always carried out by the Muslim groups. Even the TNI-thug-army doesn't go so far so frequently. Get in the way of the army and they just kidnap you and shoot you. But get in the way of the islamofascists and they cut your daughters head off.
I believe most Muslims in Indonesia are our friends. I believe it from experience. But I can't help but feel that Islam must be held accountable here.

[rapier]

Jaganath I see no hijacking going on as this incident only highlights the wider issue of ethnic cleansing in Indonesia. Reading reports I get the impression govt forces and police have turned a blind eye to much of it and aided the displacement of christians in many places. Too afraid of a general backlash.

Here is a report from the Poso area in 2003: christians targetted..
http://www.domini.org/openbook/ind20031021.htm

can't find the link but apparently the previous violence which claimed 9000 lives included muslims beheading infants.

Jihadist violence on the rise in Indonesia September 20, 2005

ARMED with sticks and stones, hundreds of Indonesian Muslim extremists descended on the Ahmadiyah, a small peaceful Muslim group in Bogor, West Java, in July.
The attackers set fire to the women��s dormitory and knocked down a gate fronting the Ahmadiyah complex as its followers looked on helplessly. Some 300 policemen were on guard but failed to prevent the attack.

Shortly after, Emilia Renita, 38, a Shia Muslim in Jakarta started receiving threatening messages on her mobile phone saying: "Shias are deviant. Their blood is halal."

"I was shocked. I am Muslim and yet I am threatened. What more for those who are non-Muslims?" she said.

The surge in radicalism was partly triggered by 11 decrees issued in July by the official Council of Indonesian Ulamas (MUI) which banned the Ahmadiyah, liberalism, pluralism and secularism as anti-Islam.


More disturbing than the rise of Islamist activity in Indonesia, however, is the inaction on the part of the government:

The authorities have done little to prevent the attacks or take action against the radicals, emboldening them further.
"The Government is afraid," said former President Abdurrahman Wahid who is also a Muslim ulama.

"Why should the Government be scared of the extremists when in fact they are only a small group," said Abdurrahman, who is affectionately known as Gus Dur.

He headed the country��s largest Muslim organisation, Nahdlatul Ulama, for 15 years before stepping down in 1999 to assume the presidency. NU claims 40 million followers and is known as the face of moderate Islam.

The Government appears to be hesitant and uncertain about how to deal with the situation, fearing a backlash from the Muslim majority.

The Liberal Islam Network (JIL) says the radicals�� newfound boldness reflects the growing conservatism in segments of the Government.

"They (in government) are not liberal. They are liberal and modern in other matters but when it comes to religion, they are conservative," said Hamid Basyaib, JIL��s co-ordinator.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/008206.php

[bignate]

[bigverne]

The propensity of muslim extremists to behead their victims comes from the Koranic injunction, 'to smite the necks of the infidels'.

[Pligganease]

[bigverne]

That as well, but why do many of them behead their victims when they could just as easily shoot them?